Adam Idah scores against HibsSNS

Celtic striker Adam Idah's thumping finish sent the champions into the break 2-1 up

Nick McPheat
BBC Sport Scotland

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10 May 2025

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Manager Brendan Rodgers hailed his "excellent" Celtic side as they met his demand of "building on our recent success" by fighting back from a goal down to stretch Hibernian's winless run at Parkhead to 22 games.

Travelling to the Scottish Premiership champions amid a stunning run of form that included victory over Celtic at Easter Road in February, third-place Hibs opened the scoring when Martin Boyle capitalised on Auston Trusty's poor defending.

The Australia forward had already passed up a glorious chance, but Celtic always looked dangerous in attack and levelled when Nicolas Kuhn got on to a ball in behind before rounding goalkeeper Jordan Smith and finishing.

Four minutes later, German winger Kuhn turned provider with a delightful dink beyond the Hibs defence for striker Adam Idah to power Rodgers' side ahead at the break.

And despite a bright start to the second period, with Rocky Bushiri heading narrowly wide from a long throw, the game was put beyond Hibs when Reo Hatate stroked in a third just before the hour.

"The performance level overall was excellent," Celtic boss Rodgers told BBC Scotland. "We went one behind, but we were doing so many good things in the game.

"My big message was about building on our recent success - that's what the club is all about. We want to go into [the Scottish Cup final] in a really good way, for that we need to work."

The defeat is just a second loss in 20 league games for David Gray's Hibs, who still hold a three-point advantage in third but have played a game more than Aberdeen, who could close that gap with a win at Rangers on Sunday.

Celtic's Kuhn clicking back into gear

After a sublime first half of the campaign, Kuhn's form had dipped following the turn of the year - but the Celtic winger looks to be coming back to his best at a crucial time with four goal contributions in his past two games.

The 25-year-old showed great awareness to round Smith and net the leveller before lifting through a gorgeous pass for Idah, who had been denied in the opening stages by the Hibs goalkeeper, to smash in the second.

Returning from a shoulder injury, Kasper Schmeichel, who foiled Boyle at point-blank range with a stunning reaction save before Hibs' opener, getting minutes in the bank is a boost for Rodgers, but the Celtic boss will perhaps still have his concerns about his defence while Cameron Carter-Vickers is absent.

The opener from Hibs was a mess from a Celtic perspective, with Trusty totally unconvincing in an attempt to clear the ball and centre-back partner Liam Scales looking shaky at times in the first half.

The champions' backline just does not look the same without Carter-Vickers. With the summer transfer window looming, it could be an area Rodgers looks to strengthen again.

No need to panic for Hibs

Gray brought Josh Campbell into the side in the hope of getting more legs into the Hibs midfield and that looked a shrewd change after a brief period of early pressing.

However, too often the visitors were too easy to play through as Celtic continually exploited their high line in the first half.

But even in such a pressurised stage of the season, this is not a result or performance that should cause panic for Hibs.

Their squad strength is something that could see them over the line in the race for third as the second-half introductions of Kieron Bowie, Nicky Cadden and Junior Hoilett raised their game.

Within seconds of coming on, Bowie failed to connect with Cadden's stunning cross before Hoilett struck straight at Schmeichel from a dangerous position, but Gray's men were unable to find the goal that would have mounted late pressure.

What they said

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "Against a team like Hibs who are very, very good, when they defend well they then break out with speed and pace and with the strikers up front they can be a real handful.

"But how we pressed the game from the first minute to the end made me so proud of the team. Just that ethic and mentality to win gave us the platform to play our football."

Hibernian head coach David Gray: "The timing of the [first] goal is against us, that was the killer. Celtic will always have periods when they dominate and we knew that.

"Coming in 2-1 down was a big blow mentally for the players. The goals we lose we have to look at because they were quite soft from our point of view."

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