HEADING IN RIG HT DIRECTION
Forrest and Duffy on hand to head Celtic to victory
JIM GOODWIN was still smarting at the SPFL not allowing St Mirren to postpone their league match against Hibernian on Saturday after all three of his keepers were ruled out due to positive coronavirus tests before kick- off in this rescheduled Premiership fixture.
But the narrow loss his men slumped to against Celtic last night had nothing to do with having to field a player drafted in at late notice on an emergency loan – Zdenek Zlamal was outstanding and kept the final scoreline respectable,
It was everything to do with the relentlessness of their opponents.
Neil Lennon’s men got a fright when they fell behind to a Lee Erwin goal early on. But they fought back well, dominated the 90 minutes and should have won by a greater margin. Only an inspired performance between the sticks by Zlamal stopped them from enjoying a more comfortable evening.
The Czech, whose services were secured from Hearts just hours before kick- off at the weekend, did well to deny Callum McGregor, Odsonne Edouard and Ryan Christie shots from open play with an impressive individual display.
He also did superbly to get down quickly to an Edouard penalty that was destined
for the bottom- right corner of his net with 15 minutes remaining after Christie had been brought down by Jamie McGrath inside his area.
However, Zlamal was unable to keep out headers from Shane Duffy and James Forrest out before half- time and his heroics between the sticks ultimately proved to be in vain.
Celtic are now just three points behind their city rivals Rangers in the top- flight table with a game in hand after winning their fourth straight league match as a result of a hard- fought but deserved victory and their momentum is building.
Lennon had reverted to the 3- 5- 2 formation that served him so well in the second half of the 2019/ 20 season on Saturday and the tactical switch had resulted in an emphatic 5- 0 win over Ross County in Dingwall.
It looked as if he had gone back to the tried and tested 4- 2- 3- 1 last night when the starting line- ups came out. Centre- half Christopher Jullien and wing- back Jeremie Frimpong dropped out as left- back Greg Taylor and right- back Hatem Elhamed returned.
Yet, when the match got under way it became apparent Taylor was occupying a more advanced role than usual and the system was the same. It is, however, clearly very much as work in progress. The visitors’ defending for the first goal in the third minute left much to be desired.
Joe Shaughnessey was allowed to rise unchallenged in the Celtic penalty area and flick on a Jamie McGrath corner. The ball fell to the feet of Erwin who jabbed it beyond Vasilis Barkas from a few yards out. It was the forward’s first goal for the club he joined in the summer.
Goodwin made four changes from the weekend and it looked as if the fresh faces had made the desired impact at that early stage. But they failed to trouble Barkas after going in front and were soon encamped deep within their own half
trying first to protect their surprise lead, then to remain level and latterly just to keep the scoreline down.
Christie, who had come in for Olivier Ntcham, won a freekick wide on the right in the 21st minute. He took it and picked out Duffy unmarked in the opposition area. His teammate nodded in his second in as many games.
The Republic of Ireland internationalist, who only arrived at his boyhood heroes on loan for the season from Brighton last week, is clearly going to pose a major threat in the air at set pieces in the months ahead. Forrest doesn’t score very much with his head, but he made a good connection with a Christie delivery nine minutes before half- time to put Celtic in front. His second goal of the season proved decisive.
Celtic have slipped up in Paisley on a couple of occasions during their run of consecutive title wins. Doing so last night would have been a serious setback to their aspirations this term. It was another assured showing and positive step in the right direction.
That Lennon was able to make so many changes – Patryk Klimala also started for the first time this season and worked hard up front alongside Edouard until being replaced by Albian Ajeti in the 66th minute – and still triumph will have been encouraging for him.