St Johnstone 1 Celtic 4

ST JOHNSTONE v CELTIC
Clydesdale Bank Premier League
Sunday, January 24, 2010
McDiarmid Park, Perth
Kick-off: 3.30pm.

CELTIC manager Tony Mowbray has been forced to make one change to his side following the 1-0 win over Morton in midweek.
Lee Naylor misses out through injury and is replaced by Josh Thompson, who makes his first start for the club. Darren O’Dea plays at left-back.
The Hoops are 10 points behind Rangers with two games in hand. The Ibrox side drew 1-1 with Hearts on Saturday. Kick-off is at 3.30pm.

TEAMS:

CELTIC (4-4-2) Boruc; Hinkel, Loovens, Thompson, O’Dea; McGeady, Crosas, Zheng, McGinn; Samaras, Fortune
Subs: Zaluska, Caddis, Lafferty, Mizuno, McCourt, McGowan, Forrest

ST JOHNSTONE (4-4-2): Smith; Irvine, Gartland, Mackay, Grainger; Millar, Morris, Davidson, Craig; Deuchar, Milne
Subs: Main, Anderson, Moon, Morais, MacDonald, Jackson, Reynolds

The teams have finished warming up. Darren O'Dea will again captain Celtic.

The game kicks off.

Celtic try to get McGinn involved immediately. McGeady has started on the left

First shot from Celtic and ZZ is the man with the effort. Fortune showed great control to spin infield but the Chinese midfielder sends his shot wide

Fortune again holds it up well and feeds McGinn. He cuts inside and looks for Samaras with the cross, but it's too high

Fortune plays a pass to Samaras on the edge of the box but the Greek is crowded out

St Johnstone attack down the right but Hinkel deals with the cross

Fortune bursts into the box and forces Smith into a low save

ZZ again has a shot blocked as Celtic press

Thompson heads clear inside the box as St Johnstone opt for a long throw

Loovens goes down with a head knock.

Loovens is unable to continue, so Caddis is coming on. O'Dea will move into central defence beside Thompson

Thompson does well to clear the danger as Celtic rejig their formation

McGinn chases the ball into the corner but can't get anything from it.

McGeady sends a pass through to McGinn but he arrows over the bar from the angle of the box

McGinn's cross sails over the bar. Celtic just can't get going

Fortune picks out McGinn on the right. He cuts in and loses the ball

Crosas finds Fortune on the right and his effort sails over the bar

Caddis wins a free-kick on the left. Crosas takes and St Johnstone clear

Caddis whips in a free-kick and St Johnstone clear. Crosas then picks out O'Dea but he heads wide

Crosas looks for the run of Samaras, but he can't get on the end of the pass

Caddis wins a foul 40 yards out. McGeady takes it short and the ball is worked to McGinn, who blazes over

There are four added minutes due to Loovens' injury

Davidson heads wide from the edge of the box for the Perth side

McGinn wins a free-kick wide on the right. Crosas takes and St Johnstone clear

Chance for McGinn. Fortune's cross falls to the Irishman and his shot is saved from six yards

McGeady is upended by Mackay 40 yards out. Crosas feeds Hinkel and his cross is headed out

HALF-TIME: St Johnstone 1 Celtic 0 - Craig's penalty gives the home side the lead. Incidentally, there is a problem with the floodlights, which aren't properly working. The referee is understood to be keeping an eye on visibility.

The floodlights now seem to back in working order

Celtic kick off second half.

McGeady's free-kick is blocked

St Johnstone sub - Milne off and Anderson on.

Celtic are pressing hard but no chances are forthcoming

What a chance for Celtic. McGeady skins three men and plays a one-two with Fortune, before blazing over from six yards

Another good chance. Crosas finds McGinn, he cuts in and picks out Samaras, who can't find the target

Another unbelievable chance for Celtic. Fortune again finds space to pick him out. He takes a touch and rolls the shot wide

Celtic sub - McCourt on for Hinkel. McGeady has shifted to the right. McGinn will play deeper

Samaras races into the box but can't pick out a run. Celtic are piling on pressure

Celtic win successive corners. O'Dea lashes a shot towards the top corner and Smith saves

Another corner ends with Caddis curling a shot over the bar

Paul McGowan comes on for ZZ

Samaras picks out McGeady in the box but his shot is saved again

McGowan's low 20-yard shot is saved by Smith

St Johnstone sub - MacDonald on for Deuchar

McGeady picks out Caddis at the back post and his low shot is saved by Smith

McCourt goes down on the edge of the box but referee Collum waves play on

McCourt skins Irvine and races into the box but Smith again saves. 7743 is attendance

Fortune fires a low cross into the box and Morris clears. St Johnstone are camped in their box.

McGeady's shot is saved and O'Dea fires wide from an offside position

Fortune can't connect with McGeady's deflected cross from the right wing

What a save from Smith again. McCourt skins four men and fires a low towards the corner. Smith somehow saves

St Johnstone sub - Moon on for Davidson

Moon sends a low shot wide of target

McGeady breaks free and almost releases Samaras. McGinn then wins a corner

McCourt and Samaras exchange passes but St Johnstone somehow survive

Samaras is upended on the right wing. He takes the free-kick and McGinn volleys wide from the clearance

FULL-TIME: ST JOHNSTONE 1 CELTIC 4 - Tony Mowbray's sdie produce a superb second-half performance to come back from 1-0 down. After St Johnstone went down to 10 men, goals from Fortune (2), Samaras and McCourt gave the Hoops the win and cut Rangers lead to seven points. Celtic also have a game in hand.