Scottish Premiership
McDiarmid Park, Perth
Sunday, October 4, 2020

ST JOHNSTONE…0

CELTIC…2
(Griffiths 89, Klimala 90)

CELTIC took all three points in a hard-fought 2-0 win against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. The Hoops left it late but Leigh Griffiths marked his return with a crucial goal in the 89th minute before Patryk Klimala killed off the game in injury time.

Celtic had the bulk of possession from the off but the home side made a spirited start to the game, pressing their opponents high up the pitch.

Neither side forged any real chances in front of goal in the first 10 minutes. Mohamed Elyounoussi sparked Celtic’s first real chance with a quick exchange of passing with Olivier Ntcham in the middle of the park. The move allowed the Norwegian to break through the middle and feed the ball out wide to Greg Taylor whose cross into the back post was knocked out for a corner before it reached Jeremie Frimpong.

Shane Duffy got on the end of a couple of Celtic corners but Zander Clark managed to save both quite comfortably.

Celtic upped the tempo as the first half wore on but Callum Davidson’s side were aggressive in closing down Celtic and the fouling prevented the Hoops from finding their free-flowing stride going forward.

St Johnstone reverted from the high press they had used in the early stages, switching to two banks of five in an effort to close any space Celtic could exploit.

They fashioned a great chance against the run of play around the half-hour mark when Craig Conway’s cross found David Wotherspoon trying to dart in behind the Celtic defence. Vasilas Barkas came out to clear the danger and missed the ball but Wotherspoon sent the ball high into the air with his header.

Celtic responded in turn with their best chance of the half. Callum McGregor ran on to Taylor’s cut back, hitting the ball first-time on the edge of the box, but his shot across goal flashed narrowly wide of the far post.

The champions created another good chance just before half-time when Frimpong drove inside and drilled a pass into Elyounoussi. The Norwegian knocked the ball to Edouard but the Frenchman couldn’t generate enough power on his shot as he turned inside the box.

St Johnstone passed up the opportunity to take lead two minutes into the second half with Wotherspoon and Conway again threatening. Wotherspoon broke free down the left wing and swung a cross into the far post for Conway but the winger smashed his shot from the edge of the six-yard box against the post.

At the other end, Celtic came close to opening the scoring. McGregor dribbled beyond two players out on the left flank and delivered an excellent cross into the penalty area for Turnbull but he steered his header wide.

Following that, Celtic maintained the pressure on Callum Davidson’s side for a spell and only some last gasp defending prevented Celtic from taking the lead from a series of corners.

Neil Lennon made some changes around the hour mark, bringing Ryan Christie on for Turnbull and replacing Odsonne Edouard with Patryk Klimala.

The Polish striker almost made the difference after getting on the end of Ntcham's curling cross to the front post but he poked his effort wide of the post.

With the final whistle fast approaching Neil Lennon made two more changes, bringing on Leigh Griffiths and Tom Rogic in the hope they could provide the touch of magic needed to give Celtic the lead.

Griffiths delivered an excellent corner 10 minutes from the end and Duffy connected with a powerful header but the ball flashed over the crossbar.

Christie then crossed an excellent ball into the box three minutes from the end but Griffiths’ was unable to steer it in with his header. The Celtic striker had a go with an overhead kick from the edge of the penalty box but was off target with his attempt.

The 30-year-old would not pass up his next chance, however. With only one minute of the 90 left to play he headed in the crucial goal.

Klimala then put the game to bed in added time. The striker sprung back to his feet after being brought down by Liam Gordon and smashed the ball beyond Clark and into the roof of the net.

ST JOHNSTONE: Clark, McNamara, Kerr, Mccart, Tanser, Gordon, Conway, McCann, Davidson, Wotherspoon (O'Halloran 66), May
Subs: Parish, Olaofe, Rooney, Robertson, Hendry, Booth, Craig, Bryson

CELTIC: Barkas, Taylor (Brown 81), Duffy, Turnbull (Christie 58), Ntcham (Rogic 75), Edouard (Klimala 58), Elyounoussi (Griffiths 75), Frimpong, Ajer, McGregor, Elhamed
Subs: Bain, Jullien, Soro, Welsh

Website Man of the Match: Shane Duffy

Griffiths marks his return to help Celts defeat St Johnstone