Ross County 0-2 Celtic: Furuhashi nets as Bhoys close in on the title

Four months on from securing silverware with his last goals, Kyogo Furuhashi’s return to the scoresheet helped ease any anxiety about the main prize slipping from Celtic’s grasp.

They’re on the brink now. Close enough to smell the polish. Beat Rangers this Sunday and Ange Postecoglou’s side will be Premiership champions in all but the engraving.

Restoring a six-point lead over their Old Firm rivals perhaps wasn’t quite as simple as it should have been after fit-again Furuhashi’s 12th-minute header — his first goal since the League Cup final on December 19 and his 17th of the season.

Chances to make victory safe were spurned, not least by the Japanese striker, before Jota slid home a deserved clincher with three minutes left. 

The winning margin also put Celtic’s goal difference advantage back at 19. With just four games remaining, it’s the equivalent of an extra point.

Last weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final defeat posed questions about whether Celtic might wobble over the title run-in. 

Rangers looked on in hope, but here was the first answer. It wasn’t all perfect but there could be no disputing the dominance of Postecoglou’s side nor the merits of their victory. They didn’t look much like a team about to crack.

The Australian spoke about ‘eating up pressure for breakfast’. He wanted the Hampden loss to be used as fuel to see Celtic over the league finishing line. That’s now coming into view.

Dingwall has been an important staging post along the way. It took all of 97 minutes for Celtic to win here in December, the last time County had lost at home.

The Parkhead club’s return wasn’t quite so stressful as they made it 28 Premiership games unbeaten, a run that includes 24 wins. 

They would now need to drop more points in