Date	Saturday, 13 February 2016
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Celtic 2:0 Ross County
Venue	Celtic Park
Attendance	42,550
Referee	Kevin Clancy
Comments	Match Report Report by Kenny Crawford for the BBC. Celtic 2 Ross County 0 Leigh Griffiths scored his 30th goal of the season as Celtic moved three points clear at the top of the Premiership by beating Ross County. Avenging their recent League Cup semi-final defeat, Celtic moved ahead when Griffiths volleyed home in first-half stoppage time. Griffiths had earlier hit the post as a host of good openings were spurned. The hosts doubled their lead when defender Dedryck Boyata stretched to head in a Stuart Armstrong cross. Griffiths is the fastest player to score 30 goals for the club in a season since former Sweden striker Henrik Larsson. Facing the same opponents who beat them at Hampden at the end of January, and with their title credentials under scrutiny, the win was a necessity for manager Ronny Deila and his, at times, nervy side. Celtic failed to convert and ease the tension in the opening exchanges, with some of the loudest shouts prior to Griffiths' typically clinical strike being for over-hit passes by Stefan Johansen and Armstrong. Johansen was useful more than he was wasteful, though. The Norwegian threaded several through-balls, but the finishing did not do them justice. Gary Mackay-Steven watched his shot pushed round the post by Scott Fox , while Griffiths did the hard work by rounding the Ross County keeper before seeing his low effort bounce back off the near post and into his arms. As Celtic fans cried "Challenge him", Ross County gradually tried to pile on the pressure, and Jackson Irvine presented a threat with an 18-yard shot. But just as Deila might have been wondering how to galvanise his players at the break, the left foot of Griffiths got the Parkhead side out of a hole. Kieran Tierney's deep cross gave Chris Robertson problems and, under pressure from Johansen, the centre-back could only head into the path of the Scotland striker to score. Home supporters thought Celtic had sealed the win midway through the second half when Boyata outmuscled Paul Quinn to head Armstrong's deep delivery high into the net. But there was a fright to come. Erik Sviatchenko surrendered possession all too easily at the back, which let Michael Gardyne cross and almost set up Alex Schalk a tap in were it not for a desperate Nir Bitton clearance. Near the jittery end, Jonathan Franks also made the Celtic back-line work hard as his rising shot had to be dealt with by a diving Craig Gordon. Now it's over to nearest challengers Aberdeen to re-apply the pressure when they meet Inverness CT on Monday. Celtic manager Ronny Deila says "we can start talking about a title race in April". The champions' 2-0 win over Ross County put them three points clear of Aberdeen, who travel to Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Monday. "You know, you talk about Aberdeen all the time," said Deila after further questions about their nearest rivals. "Here in Celtic we don't think about the others; it's about winning games. Whatever they do, we have to win." Leigh Griffiths notched his 30th goal of the season to put the hosts on course for victory after a frustrating opening 40 minutes and Dedryck Boyata headed in a second midway through the second half. But overall there were still unconvincing elements to the Celtic display on a surface showing some deterioration. "I don't think you get the points if you don't put in the performance," said Deila. "On the ball today we could be better but having said that, it's not easy on that pitch to play fantastic football. "You can't do anything [about it] because here it's been raining for three months. You'd almost need a new pitch every week. "We have the best groundsman and they do a good job but you have to be a miracle man to work with this [type of weather]. We need some sun and we need some warmth. "I think we were a little bit sloppy at the start in the defence; we didn't get close enough and win the ball in good situations enough. "But at the end of the first half I thought we got going. It's very important to get a victory and get confidence and kick on from that." Deila played down any issue midfielder Stefan Johansen has with winning over the Celtic fans in what has largely been a torpid season for the Norway international. He contributed well with some incisive through balls against County but still received criticism from fans when wayward with his shooting. "For me he was one of the best on the pitch today," added Deila. "He created a lot and he worked really, really hard. He's had a tough start to the season but in the last month he's played very well. "He's a top quality player and he's giving our club things on and off the pitch. I love to have him here at Celtic." Ross County manager Jim McIntyre confirmed right-back Marcus Fraser could be a doubt for the League Cup final on 13 March if the dislocated shoulder he suffered when challenging Stuart Armstrong turns out to be a complicated one. "He's in a lot of pain," said McIntyre. "He's on his way to hospital because we couldn't manage to get it back in. We'll know more in the coming days. "A lot if the time if you can pop them straight back in it might be a week or two, but sometimes they can be a six-week job." The Staggies' boss was disappointed not to cause the same sort of upset they did in the League Cup semi-final against Celtic. "We didn't carry the same threat we've carried in past games against Celtic in terms of creating," he said. "But in terms of their work rate and organisation they were very good. "When you come to places like this there are key times of the game that you try and get to, and a minute before half-time is the worst possible time to lose a goal."
Ross County
Manager	Jim McIntyre
Starting 11	1: Scott Fox, 2: Marcus Fraser, 6: Christopher Robertson 1, 7: Michael Gardyne 1, 8: Ian McShane, 10: Liam Boyce, 12: Richard Foster, 17: Jonathan Franks, 36: Jackson Irvine, 42: Martin Woods, 43: Paul Quinn
Bench	21: Gary Woods, 3: Jamie Reckord, 9: Brian Graham, 18: Stewart Murdoch, 23: Alex Schalk, 24: Raffaele De Vita, 25: David Goodwillie
Celtic
Manager	Ronnie Deila
Starting 11	Craig Gordon, Dedryck Boyata 1, Carl Mikael Lustig, Erik Sviatchenko 1, Kieran Tierney, Nir Bitton, Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven, Stefan Johansen, Leigh Griffiths 1
Bench	Emilio Izaguirre, Colin Kazim-Richards, Tomas Rogic, Charlie Mulgrew, Logan Bailly, Callum McGregor, James Forrest