Ross Co 0 – 2 Celtic – Sky News: The Latest News from the World

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Goals at the end of each half, including a controversial Video Assistant Referee (VAR)-awarded penalty, were enough to see Celtic win 2-0 at struggling Ross County to restore the Scottish Premiership champions’ nine-point lead over Rangers.

The visitors had been struggling to break down Malky Mackay’s resilient side at the Global Energy Stadium, that is until captain Alex Iacovitti was deemed to have handled in the area when trying to clear a corner in first-half stoppage time.

There were few appeals at the time, only for VAR Steven Kirkland to tell Willie Collum to go and look at the incident on the pitch-side monitor, with the on-field official wasting no time in pointing to the spot.

Jota did the rest, driving the resulting penalty down the middle for his 10th goal of the season, the same as the Portugal forward managed in the whole of the previous campaign.

And Celtic confirmed the win with a second deep into added time at the end of the match as substitute Alexandro Bernabei, on for injured left-back Greg Taylor, drove an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

As a result, Ange Postecoglou’s team moved nine points clear of Rangers again at the top of the table ahead of their meeting at Celtic Park on Saturday – live on Sky Sports – while the hosts remain deep in trouble, just two points above bottom-of-the-table Dundee United.

How Celtic stayed in control of Scottish Premiership title race

Celtic arrived at the Global Energy Stadium knowing nothing less than a win would do to maintain their nine-point advantage over Rangers, who they host next Saturday lunch time, after their city rivals’ 2-0 home win over Dundee United on Saturday.

However, the visitors did not have it their own way against stubborn opponents, being made to wait until the stroke of half-time before opening the scoring in controversial circumstances.

Ross County boss Mackay was already walking down the tunnel for the break, only to have to return to the dugout after referee Collum agreed with his VAR that defender Iacovitti had handled a late corner when trying to head clear under pressure from Carl Starfelt.

Jota kept his cool to fire his team ahead, waking the lacklustre champions up in the process, with the visitors dominating the second period, albeit without being able to find the killer second goal.

Kyogo somehow dragged a shot wide of the gaping goal with just Ross Laidlaw to beat after Daizen Maeda stole possession on the left touchline midway through the second half, with each Celtic miss keeping their hosts in the game as Joe Hart had to be alert to palm away George Harmon’s far-post header.

However, as the match entered the fifth of eight minutes of stoppage time, Bernabei finally sealed the victory with a thumping finish to set up a huge Old Firm contest on Saturday at Celtic Park.