ASIDE FROM Greg Taylor, Kyogo Furuhashi gave the Celtic support the biggest cheer of the afternoon at Hampden last Sunday.

The Japanese forward has already made his mark at the national stadium but there was no headline moment for him as he toiled to make an impact against Rangers.

The lack of game-time was notable in his performance as he struggled to get up to speed with the tempo of the match as the striker’s four months of inaction were clear to see.

As such, the expectancy is that Greek striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, who is fit and available for Sunday’s game against Ross County, will go straight back into the starting line-up. Daizen Maeda has been more menacing when coming in from a wide position with the industrious forward set to dovetail with Jota in a front three who have caused havoc in the second half of the campaign.

Kyogo will require further game-time as he looks to recover match fitness and the expectancy remains that there will be a couple of big moments for him between now and the end of the season. Few would bet against at least one more goal that lights up a game before the campaign reaches its climax. 

With Celtic hosting Rangers next weekend on their own turf any game-time for the Japan international will be welcome before then. A fully-fit Kyogo unnerves opponents with his ability to make something from nothing. 

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But, as Celtic head to Dingwall looking to hold their nerve in the title run in, it is worth considering their current league position now as to where they were the last time they headed so far north.

Anthony Ralston’s 97th-minute was one of the key moments of the campaign but it is a thought that had news broke mid-December that Kyogo would aggravate his hamstring issues on Boxing Day and fail to reappear in Celtic’s first-team until mid-April, a significant number of observers would have dismissed their title chances there and then, such was the heavy reliance on the 26-year-old.

As Ange Postecoglou prepares for the final five games of the season amid much chatter about nerves and pressure, there is an argument that the real test of character came in the opening months of the season.

Three defeats inside the opening weeks as well as a Champions League exit at the first hurdle invited a level of scrutiny on Postecoglou and on Celtic, heightened by the nature of how the Greek-Australian’s appointment had come about.

Weathering that early pressure is what provides the foundations now for the run-in. The defeat to Rangers on Sunday in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup was a flat display in what has been a sustained period of domestic consistency.

It is the credit which that run has banked, however, which should ensure that Celtic have the capability of blocking out the noise that has inevitably followed since the whistle blew at Hampden last weekend.