Daizen Maeda gets double Celtic shift props as Brendan Rodgers explains young fan rescue act

Brendan Rodgers hailed Daizen Maeda for doing the job of TWO players after 10-man Celtic beat Livingston to stay top of the league.

The Hoops had keeper Joe Hart sent off after half an hour in West Lothian yesterday but still secured an emphatic 3-0 victory. Reo Hatate put them in front with a penalty before Matt O’Riley’s fourth goal of the season made it 2-0. Maeda secured the points at the end with a terrific strike - and Rodgers heaped praise on his Japanese ace. He believes Celtic coped with being a man down because Maeda puts in double the work of most players.

Afterwards, the manager said: “When we were down to 10 men, he was playing up front and that’s his best position. He presses and runs in behind. He was there for Matty’s goal as well. I said to the guys, when you have Daizen Maeda, it is not like playing with 10 men.

“He does the running of two men, he is absolutely incredible. I was happy that he got his goal because he was so good on the day for us. It was a monumental win, in terms of getting back after playing with nine men during the week against Feyenoord.

"Livingston is a notoriously hard place to come anyway, never mind with ten men, so to play with that mentality was very good. Attitude and energy is what you need and that is what we had. We kept our calm with 10 men and I thought the players were outstanding. You have to do your job when you come here. You don’t get points for style. You have to dig in and be resilient. We played on a difficult surface and stylistically we actually played better on it with 10 men.”

Rodgers revealed that Hart apologised to team-mates after being red-carded for clattering Livi midfielder Mo Sangare on the edge of his box. It followed red cards for Gustaf