GLASGOW, Scotland (Kyodo) — Forward Kyogo Furuhashi bagged a brace and took his season’s tally to a Scottish Premiership-best 17 goals on Wednesday as league leaders Celtic thumped St. Mirren 4-0 at home.
Furuhashi latched onto a ball sent into the box by his Japanese compatriot Reo Hatate and scored with a deft lob in the 35th minute to make it 2-0 before sliding home Jota’s low cross from the left in the 53rd minute for a 3-0 lead. .
“Kyogo’s obviously been on fire for quite a while,” said Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou. “It’s just his movement, the quality of his finishing is always there. I was really pleased with the quality of our goals.”
Defender Yuki Kobayashi played the entire match on his Celtic debut and came close to scoring when his left-footed volley hit the post in the 15th minute. Liel Abada lashed home the rebound to score the opener.
David Turnbull scored from distance in the 86th minute to complete the scoring for Celtic.
Yutaro Oda came on to make his Hearts debut with five minutes left as they cruised to a 5-0 home win over Aberdeen.
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