Dembele hat-trick fires up Celtic

GLASGOW – Substitute Moussa Dembele grabbed a second-half hat-trick as Scottish Premiership leaders Celtic came from behind to claim a 5-2 win over St Johnstone at McDairmid Park yesterday.

Liam Henderson opened the scoring for the Hoops before Keith Watson and a Dedryck Boyata own goal had St Johnstone in front at the break.

French forward Dembele converted a controversial penalty to level matters a minute after coming on in the second half before firing home a second from the edge of the box.

Scott Sinclair added a fourth before Dembele struck late on to seal Celtic’s 19th victory in a row and extend their unbeaten domestic run to 29 matches.

Brendan Rodgers’s side are now 27 points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Celtic got off to the perfect start as Henderson gave them the lead in the sixth minute.

Zander Clark could only parry Patrick Roberts’s shot and the ball fell for Henderson, who sent a strike curling into the corner of the net.

However, the home side grew in confidence and deservedly equalised in the 31st minute.

Swanson’s corner found Watson at the back post and the defender’s bullet header took a slight deflection off Celtic captain Scott Brown on its way into the net.

The Celtic defence seemed unable to cope with Swanson and the midfielder had a big hand in putting St Johnstone in front two minutes before half-time.

Kieran Tierney’s cross appeared to hit the hip of Watson, but referee Craig Thomson adjudged it had hit his hand and pointed to the spot.

Dembele sent the penalty into the net.