Date	Saturday, 03 August 2013
Competition	Scottish Premiership
Fixture/Score	Celtic 2:1 Ross County
Venue	Celtic Park
Attendance	45,705
Referee	Willie Collum
Comments	Match Report Report by Kenny Crawford for the BBC. Celtic 2 Ross County 1 Reigning champions Celtic came back from behind to beat Ross County in their Scottish Premiership opener. County's Darren Maatsen shocked Celtic Park with an emphatic early goal from distance. Hoops' Dutch debutant Derk Boerrigter looked lively before Anthony Stokes levelled from a yard out for the hosts. Celtic hit the woodwork twice after the break and Stokes was denied a penalty before the striker's late near-post finish clinched three points. It was so nearly an early dent to the 90-point-total Celtic manager Neil Lennon has set for 2013-14 in the inaugural year of the Scottish Professional Football League's Premiership. Last season, a tally of 79 points was amassed as the final Scottish Premier League title was secured by Lennon's side, and the champions' flag was unfurled before kick-off. Eyes focused largely on Dutch debutants with former Ajax winger Boerrigter in the hosts' line-up and Ross County fielding Maatsen and forward Kevin Luckassen. County were beginning only their second season in Scotland's top flight and a fifth-place finish last time round means hopes are high for the Dingwall side during the new campaign. Supporters' minds have still to be made up on the reliability of Hoops defender Efe Ambrose and when Ross County's Graham Carey charged down the Nigerian's first minute clearance, hearts were in mouths again. Early Celtic shakiness gave way to sheer County brilliance when one of their five new players, Maatsen, thumped home a brilliant opening goal off the underside of the crossbar. Neat play by Carey set up the Dutchman's right-footed smash from the corner of the penalty box. Boerrigter did his best to give Celtic fans a positive first impression, one header wide and a left-foot shot well saved by County's Mark Brown punctuating a generally lively offering. Visiting goalkeeper Brown earned further plaudits by beating away Commons' fierce drive but his goal was about to be breached in scrappy style. Amid shouts for offside, it was Celtic striker Stokes who turned in from a yard after Ledley's effort had been blocked and then Boeriggter's follow-up rebounded off a post. The Highlanders rarely got out of their own half and what was almost Boeriggter's debut goal became his last contribution when he slid for a cross and fell awkwardly near defender Mihael Kovacevic. Stokes has shown reluctance to sign a new Celtic contract but was much sprightlier in hitting a snap-shot narrowly wide after the re-start. Commons continued the one-way traffic by hitting the crossbar and then the midriff of a sprawling Branislav Micic within a four-minute period. Woodwork was struck again when Ledley's header hit the post as goalkeeper Brown helplessly looked on. County's rearguard weathered relentless Celtic attacks but when their new defender Brian McLean appeared to push Stokes in the box the whole stadium awaited referee Willie Collum's whistle, which never came. But Irishman Stokes continued his telepathic passing understanding with Commons until the latter stages, and benefitted from his cute pass to fire in at Brown's near post. Manager Derek Adams says Ross County's season starts for real next week after losing 2-1 to Celtic in Glasgow. Celtic striker Anthony Stokes scored twice after County's Darren Maatsen had netted a superb opener. "I'm not disappointed because it's always difficult coming to Celtic Park," Adams told BBC Scotland. "We're Ross County, a small team from the north of Scotland trying to come and compete with a multi-million pound team." Maatsen, one of five County debutants, thumped his goal in off the crossbar after just three minutes - a goal his team-mates will struggle to beat for quality throughout the rest of the season. However, Celtic quickly recovered and began to engineer attack after attack, leading to an equaliser from Stokes on the half-hour. Despite admirable resistance from the Dingwall side, the Irishman scored his second minutes from the final whistle. "It was a fantastic goal from Maatsen and I thought [Kevin] Luckassen did exceptionally well up front too," Adams said. "I thought Celtic played well - a lot better than they did against Elfsborg on Wednesday. "The players stuck to their task very well - we've worked on different systems throughout the pre-season. We knew we'd have to defend well and it was a hard task. "From my point of view our season starts next week."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	1: Mark Brown, 2: Mihael Kovacevic, 3: Benjamin Gordon, 4: Stuart Kettlewell 1, 6: Branislav Micic, 10: Rocco Quinn, 12: Grant Munro, 14: Darren Maatsen 1, 19: Kevin Luckassen, 21: Brian McLean, 23: Graham Carey
Bench	20: Michael Fraser, 9: Orhan Mustafi, 11: Melvin De Leeuw, 16: Alex Cooper, 17: Steven Ross, 18: Mark Klok, 22: Steven Saunders
Celtic
Manager	Neil Lennon
Starting 11	Fraser Forster, Mikael Lustig, Efe Ambrose, Charlie Mulgrew, Emilio Izaguirre, James Forrest, Kris Commons, Joe Ledley, Scott Brown, Derk Boerrigter, Anthony Stokes 2
Bench	Tony Watt, Beram Kayal, Amido Balde, Lukasz Zaluska, Steven Mouyokolo, Dylan McGeouch, Adam Matthews