Celtic were once again at their clinical best as they defeated St Johnstone 4-1 away from home in the Scottish Premiership at McDiarmid Park.
Three of the goals came in the first-half, the opener an own goal from Andrew Considine before Kyogo and Aaron Mooy got on the scoresheet, sandwiched between a Drey Wright goal for the hosts.
David Turnbull adding a fourth in stoppage time as Ange Postecoglou’s side claimed another valuable three points to keep the Hoops nine points clear at the top of the Premiership table.
The winter weather has taken its toll on pitches throughout the country and it was no different at McDiarmid Park with a dry, bobbly turf making the opening 10 minutes a period where both teams looked to try and feel their way into the game.
It didn’t stop Celtic having a chance on nine minutes when Alistair Johnston met a corner at the near post with his head, and it then didn’t stop the Celts producing some magical football on 13 minutes to take the lead.
Kyogo was the architect, starting the move inside his own half by spraying a cross-field ball out to Jota on the right-wing. Not one to stand around and admire his pass, the striker burst forward to then receive a defence-splitting through ball from Aaron Mooy, and from a dangerous position on the right of the box his cross was turned in by Andrew Considine.
Kyogo played a starring role as the support act for the opening goal, but nine minutes later he was the main character as he doubled the advantage.
Mooy and Jota were influential again as the Australian found the Portuguese on the right and he dribbled his way forward into a crossing position.
Kyogo made his move in the box and Jota picked him out. That just left the Japanese striker to take one touch to settle himself before smashing the ball into the top right corner for his 22nd goal of the season.
Just three minutes later Drey Wright reduced the deficit when he unleashed a powerful shot from 25 yards out that arrowed into the bottom left corner of the net.
Callum Davidson’s side had their best spell of pressure in the following 10 minutes as they looked for an equaliser, but the next goal would be Celtic’s on 38 minutes and it was another to be added into the top drawer category.
The first two goals saw a combination of Kyogo, Mooy and Jota and the third saw the three men involved once again. Kyogo dropped into a pocket of space between the lines and was found by Cameron Carter-Vickers.
From there, the ball was played into Jota who produced a sublime dink over the St Johnstone defence to find the forward run of Mooy who then replicated his team-mate by lobbing the ball over Remi Matthews to produce a goal of the highest quality.
Heading in to half-time with a strong advantage, Celtic came out into the second period hungry for more and they were inches away from making it 4-1 on 54 minutes when Jota crashed a left-foot shot onto the crossbar from 20 yards, after some outstanding possession football in the build-up.
The chances didn’t flow at the same rate as they did in the opening 45 minutes, but there was still a relentlessness to Celtic’s play in both attack and defence as they searched for another goal.
Maeda went close to setting up a chance at the back post with a low cross on 61 minutes that had to be tipped away from danger by Matthews, with danger lurking behind him.
Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley both came on after 68 minutes, and the Israeli had a good opportunity with quarter of an hour to go, but he blazed a shot over the bar after working the ball on to his left foot from a dangerous area in the box.
O’Riley was then close to getting his first of the season with eight minutes remaining after his shot from outside the area was deflected and just trickled the wrong side of the post.
As the clock went into the red for stoppage time, St Johnstone saw red of their own as Considine was sent off for pulling down Oh on the edge of the box with the South Korean internationalist turning the Saints defender.
From the resulting free-kick, O’Riley cleverly rolled the ball into David Turnbull’s path and he rifled a low shot underneath the wall and into the bottom left corner to round off another superb afternoon’s work for Celtic.
#STJCEL | #cinchPrem | #COYBIG🍀
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17 Comments
I wonder if Mooy has managed to convince the naysayers yet.
A brilliant signing…on a free transfer.
Very good performance on a shocking surface 🍀
Aaron Mooy
The Green Machine Moves on! WE DO NOT STOP HH 👌⭐️🍀
Unique angle nailed Mooy's pass for the first goal.
As for the second goal Jota's footwork is hurting my head 😂🍀
The goal from Aaron, Aaron Mooy just gets better and better 👏
We got ourselves a couple of beautiful bald headed bastards
Anyone clock that Reo didn't join in any celebrations? Just straight back for kick off
Brilliant 👏🍀💚
Happy Monday Celts
Gers weekend ruined again 😪
Standard affairs for the champions.
What was with the VAR check on Turnbull goal? Nice try…
First goal was a complete triangle. Kyogo-Maeda-Mooy-Kyogo.
👍👍💯⚽️☘️
State o that pitch man
The pitch looks even better from this unique angle 😂
Anyone heard anything about Ange being allowed to bring in his own backroom staff?
Seems strange he was not allowed to have his own men… Can anybody think of another manager this has happened to?
Brilliant from the team were extremely privileged to have reo hatate in our midfield.
"The Green Machine"💪…. Gruß aus Deutschland 🖐️…Hail Hail.. 💚💚💚