Date	Saturday, 22 December 2012
Competition	Scottish Premier League
Fixture/Score	Celtic 4:0 Ross County
Venue	Celtic Park
Attendance	49,428
Referee	Euan Norris
Comments	Match Report Report by Alasdair Lamont for the BBC. Celtic 4 Ross County 0 Celtic produced an outstanding second-half performance to blow away a hitherto resolute Ross County. The visitors missed two golden opportunities in a goalless first period and were punished ruthlessly after the break. Scott Brown broke their resistance and Gary Hooper headed in a quick second. Hooper added the third goal, again with his head, before James Forrest came off the bench and marked his comeback from injury with a fine solo effort. The victory stretches Celtic's lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to five points with a game in hand over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. But their performance in either half could hardly have been more contrasting, with Neil Lennon presumably having something to say at the interval about an indecisive display in the opening 45 minutes. That said, Celtic were utterly dominant during the opening stages, with Mark Brown saving from a Lassad header and a Charlie Mulgrew shot before also reacting quickly to palm away a header from Hooper. County began to come to terms with Celtic's narrow set-up, the midfield three and front three all playing in largely central areas, and created a couple of openings of their own, the most threatening of which ended with Rocco Quinn sending a fierce drive from outside the box just over Fraser Forster's bar. Hooper, playing behind Samaras and Lassad, nonetheless looked Celtic's greatest threat and had two goal-bound shots blocked, first by Mihael Kovacevic and then Marc Fitzpatrick. The home fans chanted "Bring on the Juve", but the intensity of their Champions League performances was, not for the first time this season, lacking. Kayal, playing as industriously as ever, did bring a decent save out of Brown a few minutes before the break, but Celtic could just as easily have found themselves behind at the interval. Quinn tamely passed the ball into the arms of Forster with the goal at his mercy and then Alex Cooper fired straight at the goalkeeper. County were made to regret those misses not two minutes into the second half as Hooper slid the ball through for the onrushing Brown, who, from the angle of the six-yard box, fired under his namesake in the visitors' goal. Six minutes later, Hooper had a goal of his own as he glanced a Lassad cross past the keeper from all of six yards. Those goals knocked the fight out of County and, by the time Celtic struck again, the home side were cruising. The third goal came from a Mulgrew corner, which was headed down by Victor Wanyama and nodded into the net by Hooper once more. That came in 64 minutes and it was soon followed by a fourth - a wonderful run and finish by the substitute, Forrest, marking his first appearance since October with his first goal of the season. Hooper almost had his hat-trick with five minutes remaining, but his close-range lunge forced the ball against the woodwork. Shortly afterwards, had a back-flick wound up in the net rather than in the arms of Brown, it would have been a fitting end to a splendid Celtic move. Nonetheless, Hooper and his team-mates had already done more than enough to merit a convincing victory. Derek Adams is looking to bolster his Ross County squad during January to keep his side clear of the relegation spot in the Scottish Premier League. County's 4-0 defeat away to leaders Celtic means the Dingwall side have gone nine games without a victory. "We know where we need to strengthen," the County manager said. "It's being able to get the players that are going to come to Ross County on the money that we pay. That's the biggest issue we have." County this week negotiated the release of midfielder Russell Duncan, defender John Bateson, forward Kurtis Byrne and goalkeeper Joe Malin. And the departure of those fringe players has given Adams, who did not spend his full summer budget after promotion from Division One, more room to manoeuvre. "We are looking to strengthen throughout the side," he told BBC Scotland. "I've released four players during the week and that's given us an avenue to take in extra players. "We're looking at good standard players. Can we attract them to Ross County? We hope we can give them a platform to build a career on." County sit second bottom of the table, six points ahead of Dundee - the side they finished above in Division One last season. "Half-way through the season, we're delighted with the progress that we've made," insisted Adams. "As I keep on saying, we have taken a team from the village and we've put them on the map and we've taken them to the SPL and we want to stay there. "And, if we can pick up more than the 18 points that we've done in the first half of the season, we'll be doing fine." Adams bemoaned missed chances by Alex Cooper and former Celtic midfielder Rocco Quinn during a goalless first half at Celtic Park during which he was happy with his side's performance. "You don't get many chances when you come to Celtic Park and, a team like Ross County, you have to take that opportunity," he said. "We certainly had very good chances in the first half. Cooper is through, Rocco Quinn's through one-on-one on the goalkeeper. "If we take that then it's a different story." Adams admitted that Celtic manager Neil Lennon's tactics had caused his side problems. "They've been playing 3-5-2 for a few weeks now and they changed today - they went four at the back - and we thought we'd go two up front and cause them problems," he explained. "We had to change a wee bit after five or 10 minutes because they've gone to the four. "Overall, I thought we did very well in the first half. We contained Celtic, we caused them problems. "Second half, they've gone in at half-time, probably got a roasting from the manager and they've come out and scored within a minute."
Ross County
Manager	Derek Adams
Starting 11	25: Mark Brown, 3: Marc Fitzpatrick, 4: Grant Munro 1, 5: Scott Boyd, 7: Stuart Kettlewell 1, 9: Colin McMenamin, 10: Richard Brittain 1, 11: Iain Vigurs, 12: Rocco Quinn, 21: Alex Cooper, 22: Mihael Kovacevic
Bench	1: Michael Fraser, 6: Ross Tokely, 8: Paul Lawson, 15: Mark Corcoran, 20: Gary Glen, 23: Archie Macphee, 24: Steven Ross
Celtic
Manager	Neil Lennon
Starting 11	Fraser Forster, Emilio Izaguirre, Efetobore Ambrose Emuobo, Kelvin Wilson 1, Charlie Mulgrew, Scott Brown 1, Beram Kayal, Victor Wanyama, Georgios Samaras, Lassad Nouioui, Gary Hooper 2
Bench	Lukasz Zaluska, Thomas Rogne, Patrick McCourt, John Herron, Dylan McGeouch, James Forrest 1, Tony Watt