Ross County suffered a bruising 5-0 defeat to a ruthless Celtic side at Victoria Park.
The Staggies, who were playing in front of 300 fans for the first time at a test event with crowds, hit the woodwork twice but were undone by clinical finishing from the champions.
An early Odsonne Edouard penalty, followed by goals from Albian Ajeti, Shane Duffy, Kristoffer Ajer and Patrick Klimala proved to be the Staggies’ undoing.
County made three changes from the side which went down 1-0 to Livingston last time out, with Ross Draper, Keith Watson and the suspended Carl Tremarco making way for Jordan Tillson, Harry Paton and Josh Reid.
County got off to the worst possible start when they conceded a penalty within the opening four minutes, with Odsonne Edouard being played through following a neat one-two with James Forrest before being felled by Coll Donaldson. Edouard took the resulting penalty, confidently rolling it into Ross Laidlaw’s bottom right corner.
The Staggies threatened for an equaliser through two Iain Vigurs free-kicks, firstly with a curling effort which was held by Vasilis Barkas, before seeing another effort from a wide position come back off the far post.
Celtic had another attempt on 16 minutes when Kristoffer Ajer’s header was held by Laidlaw, however at the other end Connor Randall came close with a low drive which he sent wide from the edge of the box.
The Hoops doubled their advantage on 20 minutes, with Callum McGregor’s free-kick from the left flank breaking for Ajeti to strike past Laidlaw on the turn, with the goalkeeper getting a strong hand on the effort but unable to
keep it out.
County continued to threaten, with Billy Mckay’s cross picking out Ross Stewart whose header was unable to pick out the run of Tillson.
It was to prove Mckay’s final action, with the striker limping off to be withdrawn in place of Oli Shaw.
Both sides started the second half brightly, with McGregor forcing Laidlaw into action with a low shot from the edge of the box.
County had a great chance on 48 minutes following a fine move which involved Tillson slipping through Michael Gardyne to tee up Stewart, with his low drive forcing a fine save from Barkas down to his right.
Celtic killed off any hope of a Staggies resurgence on 59 minutes, with Duffy rising to head home his first Hoops goal from a McGregor corner.
There was no let up from the visitors, who added a fourth just five minutes later when Ajer got on the end of Olivier Ntcham’s cross to turn home from close-range.
Alex Iacovitti was forced to clear off the line from Patrick Klimala, however the substitute was not to be denied 15 minutes from time when he was released by Mohamed Elyounoussi before drilling past Laidlaw.
There was still a late chance for County when Shaw struck a free-kick off the post, with the lack of luck summing up the Dingwall side’s day.
