Scottish Premiership
Sunday, December 29, 2024
Celtic Park, Glasgow

CELTIC…4
(Kuhn 30, Kyogo 59 & 64, Maeda 73)

ST JOHNSTONE…0

Celtic saw out 2024 in sensational style at Celtic Park this afternoon as they blew St Johnstone away with a 4-0 hammering thanks to goals from Nicolas Kuhn, Daizen Maeda and a double from Kyogo.

The champions started the match brightly, with Nicolas Kuhn and Alistair Johnston linking up well on the right wing and inspiring a few early chances for the Celts.

Just after the 10-minute mark, Kuhn took the ball on one of his typical mazy runs across the penalty area, dancing past St Johnstone defenders as he went. He was unfortunate not to find space to pull the trigger, but it was indicative of the joy that he was having against the visitors’ defence that he was able to waltz through their entire back-line.

On the opposite wing, the partnership of Alex Valle and Yang was also proving to be fruitful, and with just under 20 minutes played, Valle found Engels in space in the box.

The latter fired a shot towards the top corner, drawing an impressive one-handed save from Josh Rae.

The deadlock was broken just before the half-hour mark in brilliant style, as Reo Hatate burst through the middle of the park with the ball at his feet and sent an excellent pass out to Kuhn.

The winger cut inside towards the penalty area and smashed his shot beyond Rae and in to the back of the net to give the Celts a well-deserved lead.

Just a few moments later, Kuhn almost doubled the lead with a great attempt on goal from outside the box which looked to be curling in to the top corner, however the St Johnstone keeper produced another excellent save to keep it out.

Valle, who had looked lively since kick off, was the next to sting the palms of the visitors’ keeper when he thundered an effort on target from the edge of the area, however it was straight down the throat of the goalkeeper and he was able to push it away to safety.

The chances continued to come for Brendan Rodgers’ men, and the pressure on the St Johnstone defence was relentless in the closing stages of the half.

The visitors would have been relieved to hear the half-time whistle go and, in truth, they probably couldn’t believe that they were only trailing by one goal at half time given the dominance of the Celts in the first 45 minutes.

Sensational Celts see out 2024 in style with 4-0 win