St Johnstone 1 Celtic 3: Rodgers left fuming with stars despite McGregor & O’Riley stunners inspiring comeback win
AS divine interventions go, it’s one the Pope would surely have given his blessing to.
Days after being told winning isn’t everything during their audience with the Pontiff at the Vatican, Matt O’Riley’s thunderbolt reminded Celtic how good it feels.
Brendan Rodgers’ side had to work for these three points, as St Johnstone pushed them all the way after streaking into a half-time lead through Diallang Jaiyesimi.
But two stunners from O’Riley and skipper Callum McGregor - gifts from the Gods perhaps - and James Forrest’s injury-time strike won the points.
Celtic were pedestrian and poor throughout the first 45 minutes here, but improved markedly after the interval.
The way they dropped out after failing to score early was alarming and it’s not the first time that’s happened.
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It could all have been different just 48 seconds in, though, when a ball over the top by Liam Scales found Luis Palma in behind but despite cutting back for Kyogo, the striker unleashed his effort from 16 yards over the bar.
Saints couldn’t get out at all and were fortunate to survive again on 6 minutes when Yang Hyun-jun picked out O’Riley inside the area with a ball from the right, but his stretched effort lacked the conviction to hit the target.
The Hoops were giving Levein’s men a total chasing and that saw Ryan McGowan suckered into the first booking of the day, bringing down Palma wide on the left to concede another free kick.
But despite being pegged back so much, Saints showed some potency on the quarter hour, getting the ball into the box for Jaiyesimi to hold off Scales before shooting.
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The on-loan Charlton man did well to roll the defender, but his shot clipped him enough to take the speed off and let Hart save.
Within a minute Celtic had the ball in the net, but once more Saints survived it - this time thanks to an offside flag.
Slick play down the right set Yang free from a one-two with Alistair Johnston before his cutback was turned in by Turnbull.
But the South Korean had strayed offside and the linesman immediately halted the celebrations.
Despite Celtic’s dominance Mitov had got through the first 20 minutes without having a proper save to make.
That soon changed when faced with a Turnbull curler from the edge of the box and the Bulgarian international was a match for it, slapping it away from his top right-hand corner.
Saints had another opening as Matt Smith flashed a ball across goal, but neither Jaiyesimi or Dara Costelloe were able to get there to tap it in.
And on 40 minutes Levein’s men took the lead in dramatic style - leaving Celtic furious.
Bizarrely, Greg Taylor played a part in pinning Hart for a Carey corner kick and that caused mayhem, as O’Riley’s scuffed clearance headed up and towards his own goal.
Bodies were bunched together as Hart flapped around losing out to McGowan, and then O’Riley’s second attempt to clear under pressure from Jaiyesimi hit off the forward’s boot before rolling in.
It was stunning stuff for Saints, but not entirely undeserved for the way they’d grown into things.
Rodgers made a switch at the break, replacing the regularly offside Yang with Mikey Johnston, but it didn’t have the desired effect immediately as Celtic started ridiculously sloppily and were lucky to not be two down.
A terrible pass out by Hart allowed Saints to get it into the box and then when Carter-Vickers mishit a clearance, Carey had a shot on the angle.
But unfortunately for them, the Irishman’s ruffled the wrong side of the netting.
The score looked certain to be levelled on 55 minutes, though, when McGregor unpicked the defence with a superb pass in behind for Kyogo, but Mitov spotted the danger so closed him down quickly, saving with his feet.
Rodgers made his second switch just before the hour, swapping Oh Hyeon-gyu for Turnbull.
Mitov then foiled O’Riley but couldn’t keep Celtic out on 67 minutes as their pressure finally paid off.
The keeper did well to flick up an Oh cutback for James Brown to head out but his clearance didn’t go far enough so was snapped up by McGregor, who drilled a superb right-footer past him from 16 yards out.
It had been coming with the introduction of Johnston adding a forward drive the Hoops had lacked.
Mitov then made an incredible block to thwart Kyogo, showing great reflexes - although it wouldn’t have counted anyway as the flag raised.
He had absolutely no chance as Celtic won it in stunning style with another unstoppable bullet of an effort.
The Hoops broke in numbers, with Kyogo feeding O’Riley on the edge of the box and shooting was the only thing on his mind as he dispatched a rocket right into the top corner.
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Few keepers in the land would have got close to it, let alone had the power to keep it out.
Then it was heartbreaking stuff for Levein in injury time as Jay Turner-Cooke was denied by Joe Hart before Celtic broke immediately up the pitch, using their weight of numbers for their subs Tomoki Iwata cutback to Forrest for him to score his obligatory McDiarmid Park goal.
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