St Mirren 0 Celtic 3 – Hoops eight points clear during break as Taylor adds to Maeda and O’Riley goals vs 10-man Saints
IT wasn’t the first footing Joe Hart wanted.
But Celtic started 2024 the way they mean to go on.
The Hoops No1 got a painful boot in the face in a moment which saw St Mirren striker Toyosi Olusanya sent off late in the first-half.
But by then Brendan Rodgers’ side were already 2-0 up and cruising to three precious points to maintain their lead at the top of the table.
Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley’s two early goals made light work of this potentially tough trip to Paisley.
After Olunsanya’s dismissal Buddies boss Stephen Robinson had his goalie Zach Hemming to thank for keeping the score down.
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Greg Taylor added a third against the ten men with a second-half volley as Rodgers’ side now head into the winter break as they hoped.
St Mirren fans were unhappy with the red card decision just before half-time, booing the officials as they went off.
But their frustration was probably more to do with the way their own team played when they had eleven men on the park.
Stephen Robinson’s side are sitting fifth in the Premiership table for good reason.
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They’ve been outstanding this season and been one of the real success stories of the campaign so far. In their previous game they went to Pittodrie and dismantled Aberdeen.
Being without club captain Mark O’Hara for this one, and Australia international Keanu Baccus, was a major blow with those two huge players for the Paisley club.
Losing games to the defending champions shouldn’t define St Mirren’s season.
That said, there’s no getting away from how dire they played.
It was little wonder Robinson cut a disconsolate figure down on the touchline.
You just know the team would have been drilled on keeping things tight for the first 20 minutes and growing their way into it.
But that plan lasted all of 57 seconds.
That’s how long it took for Celtic to take the lead through Maeda.
O’Riley played an exquisite pass inside full-back Scott Tanser, who was caught ball-watching, with the Japanese frontman taking a good touch before slamming his shot past keeper Zach Hemming.
Robinson just stood shaking his head.
The Verdict
How they rated
St Mirren: Hemming 8, Fraser 6, Bolton 6, Taylor 7, Gogic 7 Tanser 6, Boyd-Munce 6 (Greive 78, 1), Flynn 6 (Bwomono 66, 3), Kiltie 6, Olusanya 5, Mandron 5 (Ayunga 66, 2).
Celtic: Hart 6, Johnston 6, Nawrocki 6 (Lagerbielke 63, 4), Scales 7, Taylor 7, McGregor 8, Bernardo 7 (Hatate 70, 3), O’Riley 8, Palma 6 (Yang 55, 4), Kyogo 6 (Oh 70, 2), Maeda 6 (Abada 61, 4).
Referee: David Munro 5
Attendance: 6943
Things soon got worse, though, with O’Riley making it 2-0 on his 100th appearance for the club.
This time he finished off a cracking move involving Luis Palma and Paulo Bernardo.
Even at that stage Saints were looking at a long old afternoon.
Celtic were sharp and slick all over the pitch and in the mood to cause havoc from middle to front.
But you know what, it almost became too easy.
The didn’t need to work to win possession back when they didn’t have it. The opposition just kept giving it back to them.
Honestly, the amount of times Robinson’s side passed the ball to a green jersey, or out of play altogether, was frightening.
Robinson was also rightly unhappy with the workrate he was getting from some of his men.
Striker Mikael Mandron in particular got both barrels more than once for his failure to work back.
Rodgers didn’t have that issue.
His team were giving him everything they had to get the points won and with a little bit more care in the final third they would have scored another goal before the break.
If anything let them down it was their final ball in the wider areas. Palma’s delivery had to be much, much better than it was.
But it was the red card for Olusanya on 45 minutes that effectively made it game over.
You had to have a degree of sympathy for the big Englishman who made an honest challenge for the ball with Hart. He didn’t go in to hurt him.
But there could be no arguing it wasn’t dangerous and reckless with the way he stretched his leg into the keeper’s face.
Referee David Munro initially gave Olusanya the benefit of the doubt and only flashed a yellow card.
But after VAR Steven McLean got involved, there was only going to be one outcome.
The yellow turned into a red and the Saints striker was forced to trudge off the pitch to leave his team-mates with a mountain to climb.
It made it all the worse for Robinson’s hopes given Olusanya was the one bright player he had.
In fairness, Saints showed a good bit of character at the start of the second half.
But on 61 minutes Taylor scored Celtic’s third.
Bernardo picked him out with a perfect pass and the Scotland full-back volleyed past Hemming with ease.
Rodgers immediately looked to to his bench to make changes with Gustaf Lagerbielke and Liel Abada given a run-out.
But it was the return to action of Hatate on 70 minutes that brought the loudest cheer of the day.
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The midfielder hadn’t been seen in action since picking up a hamstring injury against Atletico Madrid on October 25.
Celtic really should have added to their lead before the end but Hemming made some brilliant stops to keep the scoreline respectable.
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