Scottish Premiership
St Mirren Park, Paisley
Wednesday, February 10, 2021

ST MIRREN… 0

CELTIC… 4
(Rogic 15, Edouard 78pen, Christie 81, Turnbull 83)

Celtic produced another strong away performance, replicating the 4-0 result they recorded last week against Kilmarnock to see off St Mirren in Paisley tonight (Wednesday).

Tom Rogic scored the opener after 15 minutes, and in a dominant second-half, a flurry of goals from Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie and David Turnbull within the space of five minutes gave Neil Lennon’s side a comfortable and well-deserved victory.

There were few chances in the early exchanges, although the home side had a shot from Jamie McGrath that went high and wide, while they also had a corner which came to nothing.

McGrath suffered a shoulder injury in the 12^th minute following an innocuous clash with Stephen Welsh, and three minutes later, with St Mirren having just brought on their substitute, Celtic took the lead.

It was a piece of characteristic skill from Tom Rogic, who glided inside from the right and guided a powerful left-foot curling shot beyond the reach of St Mirren goalkeeper, Jak Alnwick.

St Mirren tried to find a way back into the game, although they found the Celtic defence resolute and disciplined, while a driving run forward by Kris Ajer saw the Norwegian dribble into the box before Alnwick managed to smother the ball.

And just before the break, Jonjoe Kenny did well to put Dylan Connolly off as he latched on to the ball inside the box, with the effort going wide of the goal.

Into the second half and Celtic took control of the contest, with Edouard, Rogic and McGregor all having chances, while David Turnbull had two shots in quick succession that tested the St Mirren goalkeeper.

Just after the hour mark, Celtic suffered a blow when Stephen Welsh was stretchered off following a bad challenge from St Mirren forward Jon Obika, which earned the striker a yellow card. He was replaced by Shane Duffy.

And with 12 minutes remaining, Celtic extended their lead. The impressive Greg Taylor surged into the box and was barged over, with the referee pointing to the penalty spot, and Edouard coolly slotted the ball home. It was the last action for the French striker, who was replaced by Patryk Klimala, but it wasn’t the end of the scoring for Celtic.

Three minutes later, another of Celtic’s substitutes, Ryan Christie, fired home Celtic’s third, and then just over 60 seconds later, he set up David Turnbull to fire home the fourth of the night. It set the seal on an impressive and well-deserved win for Neil Lennon’s side.

St Mirren: Alnwick, Shaughnessy, McCarthy, Doyle-Hayes, Flynn (Erwin 80), Obika, Durmus, McGrath (McAllister 15), Connolly (MacPherson 71), Fraser, Erhahon.
Subs: Lyness, Tait, Mason, Finlayson, Henderson, Jamieson

Celtic: Bain, Taylor, Brown, Ajeti (Christie 67), Turnbull, Kenny, Rogic, Edouard, Ajer, McGregor, Welsh (Duffy 67).
Subs: Barkas, Griffiths, Klimala, Soro, Johnston, Elyounoussi, Laxalt.

Man of the Match: Greg Taylor

Impressive Celts sink St Mirren in Paisley