Watch Jota’s scoring return to action as Celtic bury Livingston 3-0

Celtic defied the doom-mongers to hammer Livingston 3-0 today to restore their four point lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership.

It seems that any trip to the Tony Macaroni Arena is always accompanied by scare stories about previous failings on the plastic pitch.

A draw for David Martindale’s side at Ibrox last week had set today’s match up but a ninth minute goal from Kyogo Furuhashi set the tone for the whole match.

Livi barely tested Joe Hart but led by Jason Holt and Stephen Kelly they were constantly snapping into tackles and making life as awkward as possible for the league leaders.

Eight minutes into the second half Greg Taylor doubled his Celtic goal tally with a low, well driven shot from 20 yards out.

Giorgos Giakoumakis missed an 84^th minute penalty but there was still time for substitute Jota to score on his return from a three week absence, five minutes after replacing Sead Haksabanovic.

After the midweek trip to Real Madrid Celtic host Dundee United on Saturday with the opportunity to go seven points ahead at the top of the Premiership table.