Celtic Secure Narrow Win Against St Johnstone
Mika Baur’s first Celtic goal was hardly a classic. It was a simple tap-in, a few yards out, the kind of finish that disappears from the highlights reel by Monday morning.
But it kept a perfect league record intact, stretched a winning run to 13 games, and nudged Celtic five points clear of Rangers with an Old Firm double-header looming. On a tense afternoon at McDiarmid Park, the champions did just enough.
Celtic grind it out as Johnstone stands tall
With a Europa League tie on the horizon and cup and league clashes against Rangers on the way, Martin O’Neill rolled the dice. Five changes. Kasper Hogh back from injury. Sam Johnstone handed the gloves.
The reshuffle almost backfired.
St Johnstone, unbeaten at home this season, started with a sharpness that rattled Celtic. Joel Cotterill, on his first start, nearly wrote his own story on 19 minutes, meeting Alic’s low cross with a clean strike that screamed goal. Johnstone’s reaction was huge – a strong hand, tipping the ball over and silencing the home roar before it really took off.
Celtic had threatened early through Haissem Hassan, his drive beaten away by the home goalkeeper, but the clearer chances belonged to Simo Valakari’s side. Diabate saw one effort hooked off the line by Donovan, another header flash wide from Tounekti’s excellent cross. McAlear then burst past Callum McGregor just after the restart, setting up Steven, who could only fire straight at Johnstone.
O’Neill would later admit it: without that first-half save, Celtic might have been chasing the game.
Baur breaks through, Hassan denied by the line
The pressure finally told on 52 minutes. Hassan, bright and direct all afternoon, darted down the right and drilled a low ball across the face of goal. Baur arrived at exactly the right time. One touch, one finish, first Celtic goal. He couldn’t miss.
That should have settled Celtic. It didn’t.
Hassan thought he had his own moment 14 minutes later. Hogh climbed at the back post, nodded the ball back across, and Hassan thumped it in. Celtic celebrated. St Johnstone protested. The assistant’s flag and a tight call on whether the ball had gone out of play before Hogh’s header wiped it out.
From the replays, there was no definitive angle. No clear proof. No VAR rescue.
As James McFadden put it, when you can’t be sure if the ball is in or out, you live with the on-field decision. The assistant, right in line, said it was out. The goal stayed chalked off.
Celtic kept coming. Hassan curled another effort that Steward pushed wide. Forrest twisted away from two defenders on the edge of the box and forced yet another strong save. Nygren and Hogh both went close in the closing stages, only to find Steward in the way or the ball flashing past the post.
But the second goal never arrived. And with that, the tension never left.
Valakari’s regret, O’Neill’s frustration
St Johnstone stayed in the fight until the last whistle. Alic went inches wide on 80 minutes. There were half-chances, promising breaks, moments where one clean contact might have changed everything.
Valakari knew exactly what his team had let slip.
They had their moments. They created enough to score. Against this level of opponent, you rarely get that many opportunities. They didn’t take them.
O’Neill, for his part, looked at a very different problem. He saw a Celtic side that made scoring “almost impossible”, a team that passed and probed but refused to land the decisive punch. They could have scored a number of goals. They didn’t. And so, instead of a comfortable afternoon, it became a grind.
Yet the scoreboard, once again, fell his way.
Five points clear, Rangers next
Strip it back and the numbers are brutal in their simplicity. Six league games, six wins. Thirteen victories in a row stretching back into last season. Five points clear of Rangers, who lie in wait a week on Sunday in the next Premiership instalment of the Old Firm.
Celtic were far from fluent in Perth. They were pushed, hurried, and at times out of rhythm. Their goalkeeper had to produce a big save. Their wide players saw chances repelled. A marginal call cost them a second goal.
But they walked away with three points and a growing gap at the top.
The question now is not whether they can win playing like this. They already have. It’s whether this grinding, resilient edge will be enough when Rangers arrive and the margin for error shrinks to almost nothing.
