Aussies Abroad: Rogic stars in Celtic rout, Vukovic’s Genk go top of the league

Tom Rogic will arrive in camp with the Caltex Socceroos in confident mood after putting on a masterclass for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership overnight.

The Aussie playmaker was involved in all four goals scored by winger James Forrest, as the Hoops cruised to a 6-0 win at St Johnstone.

Rogic’s brilliant display started inside 10 minutes as he found Odsonne Edouard on the left, with the attacker’s cross finished off by Forrest.

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It was then a neat one-two between Forrest and Rogic that saw the former score his second goal, before the Caltex Socceroos midfielder’s defensive-splitting pass saw Forrest complete his hat-trick inside 38 minutes.

Rogic then played the final pass to Forrest a minute before the break as the winger surged forward and finished with aplomb to cap an incredible first half.

“James [Forrest] and Tom [Rogic] are very close off the pitch, they have a good friendship and you can see that when they play,” Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers said.

“They look for each other and combine. Tom made a couple of great passes which made it easy for James and he took his finishes well.”

With the points safe, Rogic was substituted with 20 minutes left as Celtic jumped up to third spot on the ladder.

And the Hoops are now just three points behind league-leaders Hearts, who went down 3-1 at Rangers.

Aussie left-back Ben Garuccio came on for the last 17 minutes at Ibrox as Hearts fell to their first defeat of the campaign.

Elsewhere, Danny Vukovic’s dream season with Genk has continued as his side crushed Gent 5-1 in Belgium.

Vukovic made four key saves in the match to help his side to another three points, which has taken them top of the league after Club Brugge lost 3-1 at Standard Liege.

In Denmark, Awer Mabil’s FC Midtjylland had little trouble in disposing of Vendsyssel 3-0 to remain top of the ladder on goal difference after 12 games.

Mabil had another strong game for the home side and set up the opening goal on 29 minutes for Paul Onuachu.

Meanwhile, Caltex Socceroos attacker Andrew Nabbout made his long-awaited comeback for Urawa Reds in the J-League as they drew 1-1 with Vegalta Sendai.

Nabbout played the last 13 minutes off the bench in his first game back since injuring his shoulder at June’s FIFA World Cup.

Goalkeeper Mitch Langerak played a full game as his Nagoya Grampus were beaten 2-1 in the J-League by FC Tokyo.

Alex Gersbach’s Rosenborg remain four points clear at the top in Norway, despite being held to a 1-1 draw against Sandefjord, with the Aussie left-back playing 76 minutes for the hosts.

In Cyprus, Apostolos Giannou got through a full game as his AEK Larnaca won 2-1 at Ermis, while in Serbia Milos Degenek’s Red Star Belgrade scored in stoppage-time to beat Zemun 2-1.