McGregor strikes late to spare Celtic’s blushes

GLASGOW, Aug 26, (AFP): Callum McGregor struck late to rescue a point for Celtic as the Hoops lost top spot in the Scottish Premiership following a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone on Saturday.

St Johnstone grabbed a shock lead through Steven MacLean in the 40th minute at Parkhead as he took advantage of an error from Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

Celtic were rewarded for their relentless pressure in the second half when McGregor grabbed an equaliser 11 minutes from manager Brendan Rodgers, whose side were in Kazakhstan on Champions League duty on Tuesday.

“The reaction we got after half-time was amazing and I just felt it was a matter of time.”

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright was proud of his players’ battling effort.

“I thought it was a great performance. We came to try and press them and the goal came from pressing them high up,” he said. “We knew we were going to be under pressure in the second half but we defended well and their goal was a wee bit fortuitous.”

It was a combination of good pressing from the St Johnstone forwards and an error from Gordon that led to a bizarre opening goal for the visitors.

Hoops defender Anthony Ralston played the ball back to Gordon under pressure from Michael O’Halloran and the goalkeeper’s slack clearance only reached Liam Craig at the edge of the area. The Saints midfielder cushioned it into the path of MacLean, who took a touch and curled into the bottom corner, much to the anger of the Celtic defence who felt the striker was offside.