Livingston gave the Scottish Champions a first half headache in their first outing to Celtic Park following their promotion, but a second half masterclass helped the hosts to a 3-0 victory in a dominant performance. A second half double from Benjamin Nygren was complimented by a Johnny Kenny strike to hand Livi their first league defeat of the season.

There were two changes to the side that exited the Premier Sports Cup just under a week ago, with Robbie Muirhead and Lewis Smith; the latter fresh off signing his new contract extension; replaced by Danny Wilson and Jeremy Bokila in the starting eleven, with both dropping to the bench.

As was to be expected, it was mostly Celtic possession to start the game, with Shin Yamada breaking through the Livi back line about 3 minutes in. He was unable to make contact with the ball, which in itself wrongfooted Jerome Prior who had to parry the ball out for a corner. Thankfully, the Celtic striker was offside, which relieved the pressure.

Celtic had the ball in the back of the net on 14 minutes, Arne Engels raced through and took a nice touch before laying off to Shin Yamada, who finished smartly to Prior’s left hand side, however the linesman raised his flag for offside, which following a lengthy VAR review, was found to be correct.

Livi then had a period of sustained pressure looking to test the Celtic back line, and a couple of Dan Finlayson crosses looked promising from the right, although they were dealt with rather routinely by the home defence.

With about 30 minutes on the clock gaffer Davie Martindale had to rethink his tactics. Shane Blaney, who was part of a back three for the Lions, went down following some Celtic pressure. Not being able to continue, Martindale opted to revert to a back four, with Stevie May replacing the defender.

On 35 minutes, it would take a smart save from Prior to keep the scores level. A good cross from the left by Celtic found Yamada, and although his header was looping rather than driving, it threatened to sneak in under the crossbar at Jerome’s left hand post, forcing the Frenchman to jump at his highest to punch the ball over the bar.

The switch in tactics found Andy Winter playing a rather unfamiliar position as left back. In attempting to leave the ball to roll out for a goal kick, he was put under pressure by Engels who managed to nick the ball past the Livi player, before creating a shooting angle that was blocked well by Ryan McGowan.

With two minutes to the interval, a clever through pass was greeted with an even better touch from Yamada, who turned his defender and found himself through one on one with the keeper. His attempt however was not one of quality and trickled past Prior to McGowan who was waiting to clear.

In a frantic end to the half, Celtic were pushing to get the opener going into half time. A good cross from the right found Yang unopposed at the back post, his header destined for the back of the net, but for a superb save from Prior to tip it onto the bar and cleared away, keeping it goalless as the sides went in for half time.

It took Celtic only minutes from the resumption of the game to open the scoring however. A nice ball across to Yang on the left saw him cut in and unleash a powerful strike at goal, which Prior could only parry into the path of Benjamin Nygren who tapped it home from close range.

And the hosts thought they had a second with just eight minutes on the second half clock. A good ball from Engels found Yang on the left, his first time low cross was driven to the front post where Yamada was looking to steer the ball home, but he got his bearings wrong and could only find the side netting.

Livi would probably in any other world have been happy to see the back of Yamada who had been a handful all day for the Livi backline, but when himself, McCowan and Bernardo were replaced by Callum McGregor, Daizen Maeda and James Forrest, it was very clear that Celtic had some strong backing off the bench.

And James Forrest was quickest to get into the game, with his usual good footwork allowing him to hit the byline before sending a low driven cross to the front post where the Livi defence could only put it out for a corner.

Livi had a brief glimpse at goal after Mo Sylla was brought down about 25 yards from the Celtic goal. The free kick needed two attempts at a clearance for the hosts though, with McGowan lurking looking for a header to bring the Lions level again.

The Lion’s first corner came about from good play from sub Tete Yengi. Getting his body across in front of the ball, he managed to shield and play in Stevie May, whose cross was cleared for a corner. It was May who took the resulting corner, finding Dan Finlayson at the back post, but his header was straight at Kasper Schmeichel. From the corner, Celtic broke fast, forcing Sammy Lawal to concede a corner.

It was from this corner that Celtic doubled their lead. The initial cross seemed to be dealt with however it fell to Nygren, who lashed home his and the home side’s second with about 20 minutes to play.

The floodgates were well and truly opened and Celtic extended their lead on 74 minutes. A nice bit of skill by Maeda on the left saw him beat his defender, sending a cross to the six-yard line where Johnny Kenny was waiting to knock the ball past Prior.

Livi almost got a consolation as the clock ticked over to 80 minutes. A slack pass was intercepted by Sylla, who bounded towards the Celtic goal, but perhaps took a touch too many and was eventually dispossessed by the Celtic defenders.

Celtic showed that they could also play the long ball game as well as their standard passing affair. A lumped ball over the heads of the Lions backline was taken down beautifully by Kenny, but the onrushing Prior spread himself well to stop the hosts extending their lead further.

The introduction of Lewis Smith up front seemed to breathe some creativity into a tired Livi team, with his direct running causing issues for the hosts. Good footwork from the former Accie saw the ball find May on the edge of the box, who tried a clipped effort to the back post but it floated harmlessly over the bar.

With Celtic Park emptying, Livi almost got themselves on the scoresheet, Stevie May swinging a corner in from the right finding McGowan who had a free header which forced Schmeichel to tip over the bar.

It preceded some nice pressure from Livi, but they couldn’t find a way through the Celtic team, who preserved their clean sheet and three points in a dominant performance.

Match report: David Hastie

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