Date	Saturday, 19 March 2022
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Celtic 4:0 Ross County
Venue	Celtic Park
Attendance	58,432
Referee	Don Robertson
Comments	Match Report Report by Clive Lindsay for the BBC. Celtic 4 Ross County 0 Giorgos Giakoumakis scored his second hat-trick in five games as Celtic swept in-form Ross County aside to move six points clear of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership. The Greek striker scored an early double, then set up a Daizen Maeda tap-in to secure the three points within the opening 26 minutes. County defender Kayne Ramsay was sent off moments later and Giakoumakis added his third from the penalty spot - and Celtic's fourth - after a handball. Not for the first time, Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou did not rise to questioning about his side's relentless 31-game unbeaten domestic run piling pressure on second-top Rangers before the reigning champions' visit to Dundee on Sunday. "We can't influence what others do," he said. "We just concentrate on what we need to do." County slip into the bottom half after their three-game winning streak came to a shuddering end. Manager Malky Mackay not surprisingly stuck with the side that beat St Mirren last weekend to move into the top six after a run of only one defeat in eight outings, but he found his former club in unforgiving form. Jota had returned to Celtic's starting line-up in place of the injured James Forrest and the "really bright" winger was picked out for praise by Postecoglou along with Giakoumakis and Maeda. Immediately showing the class that made him such an influence after arriving on loan from Benfica last summer, Jota had already sent a dipping drive just over the crossbar when his inswinging cross found Giakoumakis rising above his marker and goalkeeper Ross Laidlaw to head in from close range. Another deep Jota cross led to the second, Maeda nodding back into the six-yard box, where Giakoumakis had his first header cleared off the line by defender Jack Baldwin but stooped to make no mistake with his second. Fine saves from Laidlaw had denied Maeda and Callum McGregor, but the goalkeeper was left wrong-footed when Jota's corner was headed down by Giakoumakis and prodded over by the Japanese striker. There was still plenty of time for the afternoon to get worse for County and it did just that two minutes later when on-loan Southampton defender Ramsay was shown a straight red card after diving into a challenge on Tom Rogic. The Australian midfielder, who had come back into the home side in place of Matt O'Riley, was unable to continue and swapped places with the Englishman, as Mackay sent on fit-again defender Keith Watson for winger Joseph Hungbo with damage limitation the watchword. Another couple of Laidlaw saves were required as Celtic looked to make their man advantage tell after the break. Celtic eventually eased off after a clinical spot-kick completed Giakoumakis' hat-trick - his 12th goal of the season - and had the luxury of handing a return as a substitute to David Turnbull, the Scotland midfielder having been on the sidelines since December through injury. They were second best to Bodo Glimt in the Europa Conference League, but there are no signs of Celtic letting up their post-winter break charge towards what seemed an unlikely title early in Postecoglou's reign. With Turnbull back from injury and Japan striker Kyogo Furuhashi nearer to his, the strength in depth in the Australian's squad is increasing just at the right end of the season, and it looks like the two remaining Old Firm derbies will be decisive for the destination of the title. Mackay stressed before kick-off that avoiding relegation was always County's priority after having to rebuild his squad in the summer, but despite a heavy victory, they remain within touching distance of a top-six bonus. With two games left before the split, they remain in the mix, only a point behind fifth-top Hibernian and with six teams separated by two, and can put this down to a bad day at the office. Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou: "We had a couple of really tough away games where we've done really well but the playing surfaces haven't allowed us to play our football. "Today allowed us to be really good and bright and we were well in control of the game." Ross County manager Malky Mackay: "We had to show resilience and make sure it did not reach a score that can happen here when you go down to 10 men. I was very proud of them. "We're still in a position with two games to go that we're in with a lot of other teams with a chance to get into the top six."
Ross County
Manager	Malcolm (Malky) Mackay
Starting 11	1: Ross Laidlaw, 2: Connor Randall, 5: Jack Baldwin 1, 6: Harrison Paton, 8: Ross Callachan, 16: Alexander Iacovitti, 17: Regan Charles-Cook, 19: Kayne Ramsay 1, 22: Jordon Tillson, 23: Joseph Hungbo, 26: Jordan White
Bench	21: Ross Munro, 3: Jake Vokins, 4: David Cancola, 7: Blair Spittal, 10: Dominic Samuel, 15: Keith Watson, 19: Jack Burroughs, 20: Declan Drysdale, 24: Benjamin Paton
Celtic
Manager	Ange Postecoglou
Starting 11	Joe Hart, Greg Taylor, Carl Starfelt, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Josip Juranovic, Tomas Rogic, Reo Hatate, Callum McGregor, Georgios Giakoumakis, Jota (João Pedro Neves Filipe) , Daizen Maeda
Bench	Nir Bitton, Liel Abada, David Turnbull, James McCarthy, Michael Johnston, Yosuke Ideguchi, Scott Bain, Matt O'Riley, Anthony Ralston