There was to be no Old Firm double for Caley Thistle, with Celtic’s rampant victory ensuring the Highlanders are back to where they started at the foot of the Premiership.
Although Celtic dominated first-half possession, the hosts held out well until Scott Sinclair’s sublime curling effort gave the Hoops the lead two minutes before the break. Celtic doubled the lead only 12 seconds after the restart, with Owain Fon Williams at fault with a spectacularly mis-hit clearance which allowed Moussa Dembele in to score.
Stuart Armstrong added a third with an outstanding free-kick midway through the second-half, before Dembele’s second goal rounded off the victory for the visitors.
Having waited so long to come off the bottom of the table, ending their 14-match wait for a win in style with Friday’s dramatic late win against Rangers, Caley Jags were back to square one without kicking a ball ahead of the visit of the champions-elect. Hamilton Accies’ unexpected win against Aberdeen on Tuesday to ninth-place, two points ahead of the Highlanders.
Inverness, with only four league victories all season, came into the game holding the unlikely acclaim of being the only side to take points from Brendan Rodgers’ men this season. On that occasion it was Alex Fisher’s late header that secured a 2-2 draw, but Foran’s men knew they had to go one better in order to improve their league position. The evidence since suggests that only served to rile the Hoops however, with a 3-0 league victory at Parkhead in November followed by a 6-0 thrashing in the Scottish Cup last month.
Foran was forced to ring the changes, with Carl Tremarco and Jake Mulraney missing out through injury and on-loan Jamie McCart ineligible to face his parent club. Brad McKay and Billy King were drafted in, along with captain Gary Warren who returned to the heart of defence.
Celtic took command of possession in the early stages, but Caley Jags had the first attempt when Liam Polworth dispossessed Nir Bitton before trying his luck from 40 yards, with his speculative attempt drifting wide.
Celtic began to show their threat though, with Kieran Tierney lashing a shot over, and leading scorer Moussa Dembele driving a low shot straight at Owain Fon Williams.
It was Billy Mckay’s spectacular goal which saw off Rangers, and the Northern Irishman’s first glimpse against the Hoops came midway through the first-half when his low shot was comfortably gathered by Craig Gordon.
Celtic, as expected, continued to see plenty of the ball but Caley Jags did well to limit their threat throughout most of the first-half, although Fon Williams was required to make another save on 32 minutes, the goalkeeper doing well to get down to the Thurso-born midfielder’s shot which came through a ruck of bodies in the penalty box.
Caley Jags kept the visitors at arm’s length for much of the first-half, but Rodgers’ men showed their quality on 43 minutes. Sinclair did well to hurdle the advances of Ross Draper on the edge of the box, before letting fly with a curling 20-yard strike which flew past Fon Williams.
It was the worst possible time for Caley Thistle to concede, and it got even worse for Foran’s men just 12 seconds into the second-half as they gifted the Hoops a comical second goal. Inverness initially looked to have got away with a scare when Dembele’s interception from David Raven’s loose pass ran fortuitously into the path of Warren, however worse was to follow as Fon Williams horrendously to deal with the skipper’s back pass.
His sclaff ran straight to Dembele, who showed sublime composure to cushion the ball over the Welsh goalkeeper before tucking home his 30th goal of the campaign. The jist of Foran’s half-time team talk would have been along the lines of keeping it tight in the hope of snatching something late on, but those hopes were fast fading.
Celtic only looked likely to add to their lead, with Sinclair scooping a shot over from Dembele’s threaded pass, while Bitton sent a long-range strike just wide of the post.
It seemed a matter of time, and Armstrong marked the return to his hometown in style with a delightful free-kick from a wide-left position.
Caley Jags were denied an outstanding consolation goal when Gordon rose high to tip Polworth’s volleyed 20-yard effort over. Inverness’ hopes had long gone by that stage however, and from the breakaway that resulted from the corner Celtic hit a fourth, when Dembele tucked the ball over the advancing Fon Williams on a night the Glasgow side never looked to be in any danger.
