Even before we heard the good news from Rugby Park, there was an awful lot to be happy about last night.
Olly Burke and Tim Weah have fitted in seamlessly, and young Henderson was also very impressive when he came on. It remains to be seen whether we can carry this on for the rest of the season, winning away games in particular, but the omens certainly looked good from where I was sitting.
Let’s begin with the defence. Scott Bain may well now have made a permanent breakthrough with his kicking a great improvement on Craig Gordon and a certain calmness when the ball came to him.
The back four were rarely troubled, and I thought that the booking of Benkovic was a bit harsh on the part of Mr Anderson. It was a foul certainly, but that was all it was.
In midfield, Ryan Christie was once again superb, although I was worried about the amount of fouling that he was on the wrong end of. Broony and CalMac possibly did not shine as much as they have done in the past – and Callum had a dreadful miss in the first half – but they didn’t disappoint either.
James Forrest was his usual powerful self, running about endlessly.
Up front, Scott Sinclair took his penalty well and dare we begin to hope that he may have got back to something like his 2016/17 form, and Olly Burke took his goals well and what I really like about this boy is his appetite and desire for the ball. (Like another famous Oliver, he always seemed to be wanting some more!).
There is certainly something here. His first goal got a little help from the goalkeeper, but he still had to be accurate (and of course Ryan Christie had to deliver a peach – which he did), and his second goal was all about determination and a certain amount of good positional sense.
The substitutions were inspired. It was the first time that we have seen Ewan Henderson and after a hesitant start, he came on to a great game, threading through a magnificent ball for Tim to score his goal.
Tim seems to have learned the golden rule about that ball coming near you in the penalty box, namely kick the ball once and make it a good one. We definitely have something here, and he had hard luck on at least another two occasions.
Full marks too to Brendan Rodgers for this team selection. The starting XI consisted of Emilio Izaguirre and ten who had learned their football in either Scotland or another cold country. This was sensible, for it was a cold night.
Did I hear, by the way, something about a diseased pitch? It looked to me to be very healthy indeed!
St Mirren, sadly, look doomed for relegation on this showing, There was not much to be happy about there for the Buddy fans, I’m afraid, and there seemed to be a tendency to exaggerate injuries particularly in the first half. Dundee’s surprise win at Hearts means they are rock bottom.
Mr Anderson the referee was OK, although I think some of his calls were wrong. He made a few decisions that the Celtic crowd did not like, but as Jock Stein used to say, if you are 4-0 up, refereeing decisions don’t matter quite so much.
So a good result and a good night. Keep it up, Celtic!
David Potter
Also on The Celtic Star…
Watch Celtic Fans TV after last night’s 4-0 win over St Mirren
Jim Craig – A dramatic defeat for Celtic in the Scottish Cup at Motherwell
