Scottish Premiership
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC…5
(Griffiths 18, 44, 74 Edouard 55, McGregor 89)

ST MIRREN…0

LEIGH Griffiths’ hat-trick helped Celtic sink St Mirren 5-0 at Paradise and extend the lead at the top of the table to 16 points. It was an assured performance from the champions who dominated from start to finish to maintain their undefeated domestic run in 2020.

Griffiths had Celtic two up going into half-time and Odsonne Edouard made it three shortly after the restart. Griffiths completed his hat-trick with just over 15 minute remaining and Callum McGregor rounded off an excellent afternoon from the penalty spot late on.

St Mirren found themselves under pressure early on as Celtic began chipping away at their defence. The champions’ chances in front of goal were limited in the early stages, though, as the visitors worked hard to close the space in and around their box.

Celtic dominated possession and were patient as they worked the ball side to side, looking for an opening. That came in the 18th minute when Edouard lifted a perfectly weighted ball towards the back post for Griffiths who darted in behind the Saints’ defence and side-footed his shot beyond Vaclav Hladky form inside the six-yard box.

Jim Goodwin’s side rarely had the ball in Celtic’s half but they were productive enough when they did. Fraser Forster comfortably saved a couple of Tony Andreu’s ambitious shots from distance and held on to a free kick on the edge of the area.

Celtic upped the pressure in the lead up to half-time with Tom Rogic and James Forrest forcing good saves from Hladky.

The second goal came right before the break after Griffiths’ neat footwork on the edge of a packed penalty box allowed him to slip the ball to Rogic before cushioning the return pass into the bottom corner.

Griffiths nearly completed his hat-trick within a two minutes of the second half kicking off but Forrest’s cross from the right flank was inches out of reach. He was at it again five minutes later only to be denied by the Hladky who dived low to his left to push the shot around the post.

Celtic maintained a good attacking pressure on their opponents and a third goal came early in the second half. Edouard received the ball with his back to goal just inside the box and got the better of Sam Foley with a sharp turn that opened up the space for him to place the ball in the bottom corner.

The Frenchman wasn’t far off scoring a second with a curling shot from around 18 yards that flashed just wide of the top corner.

St Mirren were almost punished for a rare foray into Celtic’s half when quick counter-attack ended with Forrest rifling off a good shot from a tight angle but the keeper stood firm to deny the Hoops winger his 17th goal of the season.

There was little Hladky could do to prevent his team from falling further behind with just over 15 minutes remaining. Griffiths scored his third of the afternoon with a trademark left-footed shot drilled low into the bottom corner.

The trio of goals marked the first time the Celtic striker had scored a hat-trick since his incredible 40 goal tally during the 2015/16 season.

Celtic didn’t look content with just the four goals and the champions continued to pressure St Mirren late into the game. Bitton drew a gasp from the fans in attendance with a rocket of a shot from distance that was only narrowly wide of the far post.

The Saints defence bucked late on when Hatem Elhamed was brought down inside the penalty area. Callum McGregor converted the penalty and, in doing so, surpassed his previous best goal tally of 12 for the season.

CELTIC: Forster, Bitton, Jullien, Ajer (Elhamed 80), Forrest, Brown, Taylor, McGregor, Rogic (Christie 72), Griffiths, Edouard (Elyounoussi 76)
Subs: Gordon, Frimpong, Hayes, Bayo

ST MIRREN: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Famewo, Waters, McGrath (McAllister 75), MacPherson, Foley, Morias (Jakubiak 62), Obika (Chabbi 66), Andreu
Subs: Durmus, Mullen, Lyness, Wallace

Website Man of the Match: Leigh Griffiths

Griffiths hat-trick helps Celtic demolish Saints at Paradise