Hibernian FC

A challenging afternoon for us ended with an impressive Celtic side taking all three points from their visit to Easter Road.

The visitors dominated for long spells and could have added to their advantage as they struck the woodwork twice and missed a glut of opportunities.

In the end, the damage was done in the opening stages of the match as Celtic raced into a two-goal lead through efforts from Nicolas Kuhn and Callum McGregor.

We were limited to very few goal scoring opportunities today however we did strike the woodwork ourselves through a clever Keiron Bowie effort that crashed back into play off the underside of crossbar.

David Gray made two changes to his side following last weekend’s opening league fixture against St Mirren with Mykola Kuharevich and Dylan Levitt replacing Dylan Vente and Nathan Moriah-Welsh respectively.

New signing Bowie, who joined the Club this week, was amongst the substitutes, however the match came too soon for fellow new recruits Nicky Cadden and Junior Hoilett.

Unfortunately, it didn’t take the visitors long to settle and they opened the scoring in only the third minute when a hooked ball over the top released Kyogo through on goal; he was denied by a fine Josef Bursik save, only for James Forrest to pounce on the rebound and pick out Kuhn, who scored with ease.

Celtic almost scored a second goal soon after when Campbell played a blind pass and put Kyogo clean through; the striker drew Bursik from his goal and surprisingly, shot wide of the far post.

Less than a minute later and Celtic did double their lead when McGregor struck an outrageous effort into the top-left corner from 25 yards to give Bursik no chance.

It was wave-after-wave of Celtic pressure, and we were lucky not to concede a third goal when Alastair Johnston’s cross was turned against his own crossbar by Warren O’Hora.

The visitors were rampant.  They would go close again on 24 minutes when Matt O’Riley’s curled effort from the edge of the box flashed just wide with Bursik beaten.

Whilst continuing to be dominant, the intensity of Celtic’s play understandably dropped as the half progressed and there were no further chances of note before the break.

There was little change to the balance of play after the interval as McGregor almost notched his second of the afternoon with a strike from the edge of the box that struck our post in the opening moments.

We did have a chance on the counterattack soon after when Martin Boyle drove at the Celtic defence from a central position however, with Kuharevich a better option, he chose to go for goal himself and blazed an effort over the crossbar.

Celtic restarted play quickly and we were caught out as Kyogo was put through only for a smart Bursik stop to thwart him.

Having offered very little in an attacking sense we were better after the break and could have made more of an opportunity when Newell put Boyle in behind Greg Taylor and the Australian international flashed a low delivery across the face of goal without any takers.

Celtic remained the likelier to score next and it took a brave block from O’Hora to deny Kuhn before Bursik saved at his near post from O’Riley.

On 62 minutes we introduced Bowie and Chris Cadden at the expense of Campbell and Kuharevich.

Another opportunity opened-up for us soon after when Rudi Molotnikov peeled inside off the left flank, going beyond Kuhn and McGregor before his curling strike from 20 yards flashed wide of the far post.

It would be the youngster’s final involvement as he picked up a knock and was replaced by Vente for the final 15 minutes.

We were trying to play it out at the back and were lucky not to be punished by Celtic as Maeda latched onto a poor Bursik pass before Lewis Miller lost possession inside our box only for Mikey Johnston to drag his shot wide.

With six minutes remaining we almost pulled a goal back out of nothing as Bowie chased a lost cause, nutmegged Cameron Carter-Vickers on the touchline and from an acute angle, struck a vicious effort that crashed off the Celtic crossbar.

In the closing moments Celtic had an excellent opportunity to add to their lead when Paulo Bernardo’s cross picked out O’Riley unmarked in the middle, however his header was straight at Bursik, who gathered.