The official social media feed of America’s Major League Soccer had Kyogo Furuhashi punted off to Atlanta United earlier this week. Good job for manager Brendan Rodgers and his Celtic team that they got their wires crossed.
Without the Japanese striker, the defending champions might not have got out of the frozen conditions of the Global Energy Arena without their leisurely march towards the Premiership title suffering a little bit of a slip and fall.
Baltic weather and a bobbly pitch notwithstanding, Celtic played in a pretty low gear for most of this game no matter a final scoreline made all the more impressive through two goals scored deep into time added-on.
And that’s maybe understandable when you enjoy a lead at the top of the table that now sits at a remarkable 18 points.
However, this was maybe something of a reminder that they need to keep their minds on the job — no matter how tempting it may be to take the bread and butter for granted and have one eye on the likes of the upcoming high-stakes Champions League matches with Young Boys and Aston Villa.
The league is done and dusted. No doubt. The problem for Celtic is that it can sometimes be difficult to get back to full power when standards have dropped and it does not seem unfair to state that Rodgers’ team aren’t at their best right now.
The 3-0 Old Firm loss to Rangers was a shambles. Home wins over St Mirren and Dundee United were a little more stodgy than you might expect and there was a period in this game where it briefly looked like they might be in danger of ending up with a really sore one.
Furuhashi had got them in front with a deft finish early in the first half but, having been denied by the excellent home goalkeeper Jordan Amissah, they went missing for a while early in the second period and conceded a penalty to Jordan White.
As it was, Furuhashi popped up again with nine minutes left to get Rodgers’ men in front — with the final score boosted by an Arne Engels penalty and an effort from substitute Luke McCowan as County collapsed.
If this game took a little while to warm up, it was perfectly understandable. Parts of the early-morning journey north for visiting fans resembled a winter wonderland. When the game kicked off at 12.30pm, the temperature around the ground was recorded at minus eight degrees.
At that point, it felt more like purgatory. And the lack of action on the pitch didn’t do much to divert the mind from the fact fingers and toes felt like they might soon turn black and fall off.
Rodgers was forced to ring the changes up front due to the absences of Daizen Maeda and Nicolas Kuhn, and opted to field Furuhashi and Adam Idah in the same line-up.
Furuhashi spent time in the centre and also drifted right on occasion, with Yang Hyun-jun employed on the left. Within eight minutes, the Japanese gave a clear indication of the danger he would present throughout.
He received a pass with his back to goal midway inside the County half, spun away from his man and released a shot that deflected into Idah’s path inside the area. The Irishman took the ball nicely and made space to shoot, but his low effort went the wrong side of the near post.
The next real opportunity came at the other end of the park just after the quarter-hour mark. An error from Auston Trusty well inside Celtic territory saw Josh Nisbet latch onto the ball and play it out to Noah Chilvers in an excellent position on the right.
He advanced to the edge of the area and took aim — and really should have done better than smash his low effort wide. He had to make visiting keeper Kasper Schmeichel work at least.
Celtic saw claims for a spot-kick waved away on 25 minutes when Reo Hatate went tumbling in the area with Eli Campbell in close attendance. Rodgers appealed to fourth official Duncan Nicolson, but the incident was reviewed by VAR Greg Aitken and it was decided no foul was committed.
Furuhashi then forced a good low save from Amissah in the wake of a clever knockdown from Idah before finally breaking the deadlock five minutes before the interval. And what a delightful, delicious finish it was. What a move, in truth.
It all started with Schmeichel just outside his own area. The ball made its way through Trusty, Hatate and Engels before being played out to Alistair Johnston, who had spent large parts of the game pushed way up the park on the right.
The Canadian fired in a superb, low ball from the flank that was just asking for someone to time his run and get on the end of it.
Furuhashi, of course, was the man — and his first-time effort flew past Amissah and into the net. It could have been done and dusted by half-time were it not for the Staggies’ No 1. Shortly after the opener, the former Sheffield United man pulled off a brilliant double save from Idah and Kyogo to keep his team in it.
And with an hour on the clock, his heroics took on an extra significance when the home side equalised from the spot.
County’s new signing Kieran Phillips was thrown on at the break as part of a double substitution which saw him enter the play along with White in place of Ronan Hale and Nohan Kenneh — and found himself in the thick of things pretty quickly.
Jack Grieves, on for the injured Kacper Lopata, fired in a great ball and Phillips was bundled over in unceremonious fashion by Johnston as he attempted to take advantage.
It was a stonewaller. Referee Matthew MacDermid indicated immediately. And there were then not one but two VAR checks — the second for a potential offside — before the path was clear for White to step up and send Schmeichel the wrong way.
Amissah sprung into action for County again shortly afterwards when making a brilliant full-length save at the top corner after an Alex Valle effort had been deflected goalwards.
Substitute Johnny Kenny, back from his successful loan at Shamrock Rovers, then put the ball straight at Amissah from point-blank range on his club debut before Furuhashi pounced.
Engels did well to receive a throw-in and hold off Josh Nisbet before firing a really dangerous ball into the box. Furuhashi got the run on George Harmon and headed home in style.
The Staggies were broken after that and conceded a penalty when James Brown fouled Yang Hyun-jun, a decision finally given after an interminable VAR review.
Engels saw his first effort saved by Amissah, but a retake was awarded due to the keeper moving too early and the Belgian made no mistake second time around.
McCowan then rounded it off with a close-range finish in the sub-zero conditions.
A warming way to end what was, at times, an unusually uncomfortable afternoon for the visitors in more ways than one.
