Celtic travelled to New St Mirren Park looking to get revenge over the Buddies, who ended a 31 year hoodoo at Celtic Park by beating the Hoops less than two weeks ago. That shock result put Celtic’s league campaign into a dire position, but consecutive wins over Kilmarnock and Motherwell have since restored a bit of pride.
The match started cagily, neither side really having the best of the action in the opening exchanges. However, that changed in the 16th minute when Tom Rogic’s trademark nifty footwork worked an opening and the Australian powerfully curled a shot into the bottom corner of the net. With Celtic having the advantage, things went from bad to worse for the home team as the in-form Jamie McGrath had to be replaced due to suffering an injury.
Breakthrough for Celtic! 💥
The ball is fizzed into the feet of Rogic, who turns inside the penalty and shifts the ball onto his right foot before firing beyond Alnwick and into the far corner.
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Scott Bain had little do in the Celtic goal and Celtic were dominant without carving out too many more clear cut chances. Any moments of creativity came from the goalscorer, Rogic, who regularly got himself on the half turn and turned a stale situation into an attacking opportunity.
It took until 41 minutes for Jim Goodwin’s side to create any opening of note, when Connolly was played through on goal but Jonjoe Kenny defended tremendously with a sliding challenge on the cover.
That was as much action as we got in the first half. Celtic look comfortable and dominant, but Neil Lennon will be wanting a second goal to provide a cushion, particularly given the late defensive panic that we saw against Motherwell at the weekend.
