THERE are more important things in life than football.
A subdued game at Parkhead yesterday seemed appropriate given the sombre nature of the past week's events in Glasgow.
The black armbands worn by the players betrayed deeper concerns than a mere three points and the jeers at the end from frustrated Celtic fans evaporated quickly.
The pre-match minute's silence for the six victims of the George Square tragedy put everything into context. The tribute to those who lost their lives, including Celtic fan Jack Sweeney, 69, his wife Lorraine, and their grand-daughter Erin McQuade, 18, was poignant.
The stadium was perfectly still. The Green Brigade fan group held up a banner which urged "Stay Strong Glasgow". The silence gave way to respectful applause followed by a gentle rendition of You'll Never Walk Alone.
As far as the football went, Ronny Deila's side actually increased their lead at the top of the SPFL Premiership to five points, despite being held at home by a well-organised Ross County side and if John Guidetti's goal "drought" has now reached five games, the manager sees no reason to fret.
The Swedish striker missed an open goal in the 51st minute, the sort of chance he took routinely earlier in the season.
"He is struggling at the moment, you can see that," Deila said. "We know he can score goals, he has done it before. He hasn't become a poorer player in a month, it is just small details that we are going to have to turn around. He will come back.
"My challenge to him would be get that back as quickly as possible. John's ambitions are very high and he is even more disappointed than everyone else."
Ross County slipped to bottom of the table due to St Mirren's win, but manager Jim McIntyre said: "We have taken a point at Parkhead. That is good. The St Mirren result is irrelevant to us. Of course it is disappointing to be bottom, but we have shown good character. We took a hammering off Celtic in Dingwall and we were mindful of that. I wanted us to be hard to beat."
Celtic lost Anthony Stokes to a calf injury after eight minutes, with Callum McGregor coming on. The hosts created the first threat of the contest when Emilio Izaguirre was fouled just outside the box by Steven Saunders, allowing Guidetti to whip in a low angled free-kick which Antonio Reguero kept out at his near post.
From an identical position seven minutes later, another foul yielded another free-kick opportunity for the Swede. This time Guidetti curled the ball over the wall and into side net.
Next, Stefan Johansen picked out the run of Nir Bitton with his deep free-kick, but Reguero pawed the midfielder's downward header to safety. Johansen contributed a fine run into the box only for McGregor to squander the chance, before Izaguirre did the same after a clever exchange of passes with the substitute. Celtic stepped up the tempo before the interval, but Leigh Griffiths' netbound shot was deflected wide by the boot of Guidetti.
It was fully 50 minutes before Ross County had their first effort on target. Substitute Lewis Toshney - who had replaced the unfortunate Michael Gardyne before half-time - met Richard Brittain's crossfield pass and produced a firm header which Craig Gordon saved.
Celtic then swept down the pitch and McGregor conjured up a fierce 20-yard shot which thumped off the bar and came down perfectly for Guidetti only for the striker to miss with his header from eight yards.
Deila gambled on a double substitution in the 66th minute, with Guidetti and MacGregor going off for Kris Commons and Stefan Scepovic.
Commons' first act was to take a corner which Virgil van Dijk knocked back across the goal, but Johansen could not finish.
Filip Kiss might have snatched an unlikely victory for County in the 84th minute but his raking 20-yard shot crashed off the post with Gordon beaten. Reguero saved Griffiths' impressive volley in the last minute of normal time.
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