Celtic had today the chance to prove the doubters wrong. After their home defeat to ICT, the Bhoys had made their worst start since the 1998-1999 season. Their European adventures made up their bad domestic season, but they should put an end to their below par performances (specially at home) to get a good lead in the league. Despite their form, the Bhoys were always in the top while Hibernian, Aberdeen or ICT dreamt about leading the table, at least for a few weeks. Neil Lennon’s men returned to Celtic Park, a magical venue in the Champions League where too many Scottish teams have taken points of this season. St Mirren, a team that hasn’t scored a goal against Celtic since Danny Lennon took over, looked like the best rival to get some confidence back.

The 3-5-2 formation gave the hosts a numerical superiority in the middle of the park, but they lacked a creative man to open the visitors’ packed defence. Wanyama made it 1-0 thanks to his perseverance. He headed a corner but Samson saved it, the ball went back to the Kenyan’s feet and he didn’t miss that superb chance to give Celtic the lead. Celtic had given the Saints some work to do defensively, and they claimed several penalties during the first half while Callum Murray waved the game on.

Celtic outnumbered St Mirren's midfield, but didn't have ideas to outclass them

The Bhoys had several  corner kicks to take, their main way to bring danger to St Mirren’s area. The visitors defended well otherwise and didn’t give Celtic enough space to shoot nor to create clear goalscoring opportunities. Despite Celtic’s insistence and dominance, the home team went to the tunnel with a narrow 1-0 lead. The strikers weren’t mobile enough while the midfielders passed the ball around without troubling Samson, who wasn’t needed during the first half as Celtic failed to hit the target. A recurrent feeling was coming inside the fans in the stadium. A single chance for St Mirren would be enough to draw and replicate another disappointing afternoon at Celtic Park.

Celtic attacked during the whole second half until they got a late goal

The hosts were decided to score the second, and that’s what they showed in the second half’s first minutes. They closed down St Mirren in their own area while all their players bombed forward. Wanyama and Kayal pressed well,  Brown was everywhere and Matthews disrupted St Mirren’s defence with his pace and ability. This pressure produced two clear opportunities for Scott Brown, but they were both blocked by Samson first and by a late tackle then.

Wanyama tried from distance, but Samson parried the ball away, Lustig hit the bar with a header. Celtic had had 13 corners and they hadn’t troubled St Mirren that much apart from the goal. The home fans had a chilling reminder that another goal was needed when John McGinn shot from distance after some good passing by St Mirren. Luckily for Celtic, Forster saved comfortably.

Hooper avoided some nervous final moments for the hosts

Hooper finally brought the ball home on the 14th corner of the afternoon. St Mirren failed to clear the ball and the bladder ended near Hooper, who scored from 2 yards past Samson to kill a game Celtic deserved to win. That’s three points for a Celtic side that now leads the SPL by 4 points above Motherwell with a game in hand. Moreover, they finally won their first game at home since the 7th October and will try to build some momentum from there. It wasn’t Celtic’s most brilliant performance at home, but the 3 points will do the world of good for a team that has failed to set the standard at home for so many weeks.

Creativity is still an unanswered subject that the Bhoys need to answer, and they'd better sign a playmaker during the January window. The fans coming to Celtic Park would no doubt be happy with a creative force in the middle of the park, overcrowded with hard-working and dominant players, but unable to break down defences and play some good football. Today they were saved by two deflected balls coming from corners, and the Celtic faithful will surely demand more than that. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Jaume Portell Caño
Periodista. África y política. Ser comunista y comer gambas está mal. Creo que en ABC hacen buen periodismo.