Saints 0-2 Celtic

Saints put in a great team performance as they pressed Celtic high up the pitch for long spells. The best chance of the match for Callum Davidson’s side came on 48 minutes as Craig Conway smashed an effort off the post following good work down the left from David Wotherspoon.

After making five changes during the second half Celtic’s late pressure eventually told as a header from substitute Leigh Griffiths on 90 minutes gave the Scottish Champions the lead. Then deep in stoppage time fellow substitute Patryk Klimala got a second for Celtic with a low strike at the near post.

Saints are next in action on Wednesday evening as they make the trip to Fife to take on Kelty Hearts for a Betfred Cup Group C match, kick off 7:45pm.

MATCH REPORT

The Sky Sports cameras were in Perth today as Saints welcomed Celtic to McDiarmid Park for a lunchtime kick off. Saints had a disappointing result at Livingston last weekend as they lost 2-0 and Callum Davidson made two changes to his starting eleven. Both Liam Gordon and David Wotherspoon came into the team and they replaced Liam Craig and Michael O’Halloran. Celtic progressed to the group stages of the Europa League on Thursday evening with a 1-0 win against FK Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina and manager Neil Lennon made three changes to his team. Out went Nir Bitton, Ryan Christie and Scott Brown and they were replaced by David Turnbull, Olivier Ntcham and Hatem Elhamed.

The heavy rain from Storm Alex that had battered much of the country this weekend had stopped by kick off to leave an overcast afternoon as Murray Davidson got the match underway.

Saints started the match brightly as they pressed Celtic high up the pitch and they were awarded a free kick on 13 minutes after David Wotherspoon was pulled back by Olivier Ntcham as Saints hit the Champions on a good break and the French midfielder was booked by referee Nick Walsh. However, Craig Conway’s free kick into the Celtic box was comfortably dealt with by the visitors.

There was plenty of strong challenges going in early in the match and David Wotherspoon was next in the book for a foul on Hatem Elhamed.

On 25 minutes Conway sent over a great cross which Vasilis Barkas came for and missed as Wotherspoon nicked in and made a connection with the ball. However, the Canadian Internationalist put too much power in his header.

It was proving to be a half of few chances as Saints were putting in a good shift and Celtic were not playing their usual flowing football we have all become accustomed to. However, on the half an hour mark the visitors created a chance as Greg Taylor cut the ball back to Callum McGregor and the midfielder had a first-time shot from the edge of the box which went wide of the target.

The Bhoys created another chance just before half time as Odsonne Édouard had an effort saved by Zander Clark following a good pass by Jeremie Frimpong. Play then quickly switched to the other end as Wotherspoon tried his luck from distance hoping to catch Barkas off his line however, the effort from the Saints midfielder lopped over the bar.

3 minutes into the second half Saints had a great chance to take the lead. Wotherspoon broke free down the left and his cross picked out Conway at the back post and his effort smashed off the post. The loose ball then fell to Danny McNamara but his follow-up effort was blocked by the Celtic defence.

That let off seemed to be a wake-up call for the visitors as Celtic started to up the pressure as they forced a series of corners however, the Saints rearguard stood firm and dealt with the danger.

Just before the hour mark the visitors made a double change as Ryan Christie and Patryk Klimala were introduced into the action replacing David Turnbull and Odsonne Édouard.

It wasn’t long until Klimala got involved in the action as on 65 minutes as he got in front of his man to meet a Ntcham cross into the Saints box however, the striker put his effort wide.

As the second half wore on Neil Lennon made more changes as he introduced Leigh Griffiths and Tom Rogic into the action.

On 81 minutes Griffiths’ ball across goal turned behind for a corner by Jamie McCart. The corner was taken by Griffiths and his delivery from the left picked out Shane Duffy but the on-loan Brighton and Hove Albion headed over.

Celtic then made their final change as Scott Brown came onto replace Greg Taylor. Celtic were pressing more and on 84 minutes an overhead kick from Griffiths from the edge of the box didn’t trouble Clark.

Celtic continued to turn the screw and on 88 minutes a Christie cross from the left picked out Griffiths but his header took a deflection as it went over for a corner which came to nothing.

The late pressure from the visitors eventually told in the 90th minute as Elhamed sent a deep cross into the box. Griffiths got up well and made a connection with the ball as he bulleted a header into the bottom corner of the net.

Saints then made a change as Callum Hendry came onto replace Jason Kerr and they almost got an instant equaliser. O’Halloran broke down the left and he tried to cut the ball back to Hendry but Christie was there to make a great interception.

Celtic then got a second goal deep into the 3 minutes of stoppage time as Celtic pressed forward quickly through Klimala but he was temporarily stopped in his tracks by Liam Gordon. However, the Polish striker then quickly jumped to his feet and gathered the ball before slotting it low past Clark to end the game as contest.

Saints: Clark, McNamara, Kerr (Hendry 90+1), McCart, Gordon, Tanser, Conway, Davidson, McCann, Wotherspoon (O’Halloran 67), May

Unused Substitutes: Parish (GK), Rooney, Booth, Craig, Bryson, Olaofe, Robertson

Booked: Wotherspoon, Davidson, Gordon

Celtic: Barkas, Taylor (Brown 82), Duffy, Turnbull (Christie 59), Ntcham (Rogic 76), Édouard (Klimala 59), Elyounoussi (Griffiths 76), Frimpong, Ajer, McGregor, Elhamed

Unused Substitutes: Bain (GK), Jullien, Soro, Welsh

Booked: Ntcham, Turnbull

Scorers: Griffiths (90), Klimala (90+3)

Referee: Nick Walsh

Attendance: BCD

Match Report by Daryl Scott

Picture: Craig Conway smashes his effort off the post