Celtic vs St. Johnstone 1-1 Match Report

This Sunday at 3pm Celtic took on St.Johnstone at home in what would be a tricky encounter for the champions. The club had decided not to allow any Perth based media inside the stadium (preventing many from doing their jobs for such a big game), and also chose not to offer a pay-per-view option for away fans (meaning that there were no 'legal' ways to watch the game for Scottish based 'saintees'), although ‘Saints TV‘ did have audio commentary for their fans.

[Edouard and Gordon battling it out last season]

Match Preview

Going into this match Celtic had lost their last 3 games in all competitions, whereas their Perth based opponents were on a solid 10 game unbeaten streak domestically - their longest ever as a top flight team. although, if history was to have had it's say Celtic should've been the comfortable victors today as the last time they had dropped points versus Sunday afternoon's visitors was the 18th of February 2018, and you have to stretch back even further to the 11th of May 2016 for their last loss against St.Johnstone. In fact, the last time 'saints' even scored past a Celtic Goalkeeper was in the summer of 2017 (with a run of 11 games since then goalless in this fixture for St.Johnstone) when a 39th minute Steven MacLean opener was nearly enough to end Brendan Rodger's 'invincible' Celtic run, but a 79th minute Callum McGregor strike broke St.Johnstone hearts and saved face for the 'bhoys' at Celtic Park that day. Since then only a handful of players from either side remain, as well as neither of the managers.

The last outing between these two was a narrow 2-0 win in Perth for the side from Glasgow, who left it late to win the tie, goals coming in the 89th and 92nd after a brave performance from the resilient 'saints' who had chances of their own to win the game (most notably veteran winger Conway who came closest with his effort striking the post) but ultimately fell short.

Overall, this game was the best chance for Callum Davidson's side to take points off of the 9 time in a row champions in a long time, whereas it was also a game in which counterpart Neil Lennon arguably needed to win love this match to ease the ever growing pressure on his job and maintain their hold over St.Johnstone in recent times.

[David Wotherspoon and Abd Elhamed contesting the ball in the last outing]

The Match

Celtic got off to a good start and the ball struck the post via a deflection, which was then gathered by Zander Clark in the 'saints' net. The first real chance (and arguably best of the first half) came on 9 minutes after a St.Johnstone free-kick was headed across to Stevie May deep inside the Celtic box and the striker put an effort on goal, which was well headed off the line by Israeli international Nir Bitton to deny a certain goal. Rogic was next up and glanced his header just past the post, for a chance which must've had fans of both teams biting their nails. All of this capped off a cagey first 20 minutes, with neither side able to stamp their authority on the game.

Eduoard had a glimpse of goal after being set through, but was met by a confident Clark who ensured the teams stayed level. The visitors were forced into an early change after a stamp from Scott Brown resulted in Michael O'halloran having to be withdrawn due to injury. Chris Kane was the man to come on (You'll hear more about him later on) with 'saints' having to reshuffle their front line with no direct replacement on the bench. The game started to go stale as the half wore on, until it was last seasons SPFL top scorer who was again found with a neat through pass but once again he was denied, this time by firm defending by ex-Celtic player Jamie McCart. Half time was upon us and it appeared as though it was destined to go in as a hard-fought, goalless, first 45. However, Ali McCann tried his best to stop that becoming a reality after neatly collecting the ball and fizzing a low cross in the box to in-form May who could only get a little on the delivery (with some arguable contact from Julien) and the half was over.

Second half now and the teams came out fighting, in both a playing and literal sense. Brown and Taylor both committing fouls and then a poor tackle from Bryson received a deserved yellow card in what threatened to turn into a scrappy affair. Leigh Griffthis was introduced to the action in the 58th minute, coming on in place of number 8 and captain Brown in a move of clear attacking intent from the champions and under pressure Neil Lennon. A yellow card for Wotherspoon resulted in a Celtic free-kick in a very dangerous area but edouard (who has not been hitting the same heights as last season) didn't even trouble the keeper, his effort hitting the wall. Next substitution was Turnbull for Rogic and this resulted in the home side growing into the game even more with the 'saints' foul count ever increasing.

Scotland frontman Leigh Griffthis was smartly found inside the Perth side's box, but again it was dealt with well by their excellent defence this time by makeshift centre-back Shaun Rooney. A deflected effort from summer signing and sub Turnbull tested the 'saints shot' stopper however he rose to the occasion and denied the deadlock being broken on the 75th minute. It was the visitors who counter attacked and in the 77th minute an attempted May through ball to McCann was handled by McGregor resulting in a yellow card and a free-kick. All of a sudden St.Johnstone found themselves on the attack again and this time, it was May down the left who found space and once in behind the defence with some excellent play he whipped it low back post where Chris Kane the substitute (goalless in the league up until now) was the man to break the deadlock after a hard fought 80 minutes at Celtic Park, ending a run stretching back to 2017. 1-0 to the visitors, and nobody could fault their work ethic to get to this point.

[Chris Kane celebrating his opener]

Celtic now looked like they had found a sense of purpose, and this goal reinvigorated the side who soon drew themselves level through an Elyounoussi header, which floated in back post seeming to travel through the air for what felt like an eternity before nestling in the St.Johnstone net to the delight of Celtic fans across the country. 1 apiece and Davidson's side may feel a little frustrated to lose the lead so soon however, few could argue that it wasn't a fair scoreline based on both sides performance on the pitch. The game remained this scoreline for the rest of the 90 without either side really threatening in the late stages and it means very different things for the two sides, with both teams taking a point home.

[Mohamed Elyounoussi drawing Celtic level]

For Callum Davidson's St.Johnstone this marks an 11 game run without defeat, as well as consolidating their push up the table. Whereas for Neil Lennon and his Celtic team this means that they remain 13 points behind their bitter rivals Rangers (although they do have two games in hand) and are now on a run of two wins from 10, and none in five. Next on the agenda for Celtic is a Europa league tie at home to French Ligue Un side Lille in their last Europa league group game, although they are already consigned to last place. For St.Johnstone back home to McDiarmid they go next Saturday with Livingston the visitors.

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