Osmand and Durán connection hands another blow to struggling Celtic star Hogh
Kasper Hogh's chances of establishing himself as Celtic's starting striker just got more difficult.
Hogh was always likely to be dropped for Sunday's big Premiership clash with Hearts after continuing his poor form on Thursday night. Hogh missed from around a yard out during Thursday's heavy defeat to Benfica, and he was dragged off at half-time.
That's not the first time Martin O'Neill has done that to the underperforming striker, and while the veteran boss continues to back Hogh publicly, it's clear that his patience is running thin.
Hogh simply couldn't start against Hearts, a game Celtic won 7-1, on the back of that performance, and he didn't. Instead, Camilo Durán was started centrally, and fellow striker Callum Osmand played on the left, with Haissem Hassan on the right.
Osmand, as you would expect, was given plenty of licence to come inside and play more centrally than a winger usually would, and he took full advantage.
Osmand scored Celtic's third and fourth, and he combined brilliantly with Duran for both. For the first, Durán played a neat through ball, and one-on-one with the keeper, the young forward picked out the bottom right corner with a clinical finish, the sort we haven't seen from Hogh.
And for the second, Durán saw an effort saved, and he then climbed to his feet before chipping across to Osmand for a simple header into an open goal.
Osmand would give way at half-time and we don't know the reason for that, but it could well have been because he has only recently come back from injury and the game was over at that stage.
Later in the game, Durán scored Celtic's sixth with a brilliant first-time finish that few other players in this team could pull off.
Durán and Osmand combined brilliantly, and it will give O'Neill food for thought going forward, especially as Jota closes in on full fitness and Yang Hyun-jun returns from his hamstring issue.
What's clear is that it's getting harder to play Durán out of position when he is doing so well in the central role. The Colombian has a clinical finishing ability that Hogh doesn't, and while Hogh is struggling to provide the hold-up play that is expected of him, Durán is also giving more elsewhere in the game.
Although it must be said, Hogh did do well to provide an assist for the seventh goal.
Even so, what could have been a game off for Hogh to get his mind in order has likely turned into a big blow that will see him have to work his way back to being a starter.
