Celtic overcame Queen's Park last night in an entertaining 6-4 victory at The City Stadium (formerly Lesser Hampden) in Glasgow's southside, after which manager Brendan Rodgers hailed the efforts of forward player Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Japanese striker opened the scoring for the visitors in the opening six minutes, before adding a second and third to his tally just over the hour, and then being substituted shortly thereafter.
The Irishman joked that the limited number of fans would have enjoyed the scoreline after the final whistle, while underlining a key area of Celtic's style of play that he's keen to see get up to speed moving forward.
"The supporters got the money's worth," said Rodgers after the match. "They came and saw a game and goals. So, yes, I think it was another step up for us, it was nice.
"I think some of the attack and play in the first half was good. The pressing was nowhere near what I would want us to be and that was just a couple of wee things that were sort of wrong within the structure and we weren’t quite where we should be positionally.
"Even when the changes come in, it's much more aggressive. And then that's when we play our football."
Read more:
- Celtic instant analysis as King Kyogo's treble downs Queen's
- Rodgers: These aren't pre-season games, they're pre-season tests
Celtic indeed made a swathe of changes over the course of 90 minutes, with Oh, Frame, Agbaire, Robertson, Dede, Ure, Donovan, Turley, Siegrist, Kwon and Hatton all coming off the visitors' bench from half-time onwards.
With the squad's Scotland contingent yet to return from their international commitments in Euro 2024 – and Alistair Johnston with Canada at the Copa America – the returning O'Riley donned the captain's armband on the night.
From here, Celtic now stare down a trip across the Atlantic for their marquee USA Tour 2024 which kicks off next week.
There, Rodgers and his players will lock horns with DC United, Chelsea and reigning English Premier League champions, Manchester City.
