GRIFFITHS TOO HOT TO HANDLE
Leigh is the saviour for Celtic again as drought in Perth is ended by late strike
FOR 83 minutes, Leigh Griffiths was a figure of simmering frustration. As the rain and drizzle tumbled over McDiarmid Park, Celtic’s main scoring threat was drying up fast.
Yet give the Scotland striker this much. The droughts don’t last long.
He missed an outstanding chance in the first half. He dragged a left-foot strike wide of the far post early in the second. Through on goal in 72 minutes, he thumped his effort against the legs of Saints goalkeeper Zander Clark. The barn doors of rural Perthshire looked safe for another night.
Yet St Johnstone should have known better. Seven minutes from extra time, the predatory striker claimed his third goal in as many games with his hardest chance of the night.
Without his goals, it’s tempting to ask how much worse Celtic’s stuttering start to the season would already look. Huffing and puffing to break down a dogged Saints side, Griffiths finally came good to secure a place in the last four of the Betfred Cup.
The striker’s touch returned when defender Scott Tanser blocked a goalbound James Forrest diving header six yards from goal. Griffiths collected the loose ball, created space and drilled the ball low into the net to the ecstatic acclaim of the away support packed behind the goal.
Despite a bewildering late red card for Dedryck Boyata for dissent, the treble Treble is still on.
Whether Brendan Rodgers will be here to oversee it is another matter...
On a night of Chinese whispers, Celtic were slow to the boil, their tempo and intensity growing with every missed chance. And there were no shortage of those.
There were times in the second half when Clark found himself manning the barricades like Custer at the Alamo. A combination of fine goalkeeping and poor finishing — not all of it from Griffiths — made this a trickier night for the Scottish champions than it really should have been.
They had two clear chances to smooth a path to the last four in the opening 45 minutes and blew both.
Rodgers harbours his doubts over the strike pairing of Griffiths and £9million man Odsonne Edouard. Yet this was a rare chance for the duo to start together up front. One which should have paid rich dividends with the first clear chance for the visitors in 29 minutes. The Frenchman took up the left-sided berth which seems to suit him best, drifting inside when the opportunity arose.
It was from there he crossed an inch-perfect ball onto the head of Griffiths, unmarked eight yards out as defender Joe Shaughnessy was caught flat-footed.
The Scotland international doesn’t do everything his manager asks. But he usually gobbles up chances like this.
And, had he cushioned his downward header either side of Clark instead of aiming it straight at the Saints keeper, he would have claimed his third in three games.
Celtic’s only other chance came on the brink of half-time. Again, it was a golden opening. Again it was wasted.
Olivier Ntcham, the subject of questions over his commitment to the Parkhead cause from Kris Boyd, did his best to silence the Kilmarnock striker by threading the ball through on goal for Callum McGregor. The midfielder is a scorer of big goals and the negativity surrounding Celtic right now might have made this one bigger than most. Instead, a low, left-foot shot skidded harmlessly wide of the far post.
Spanked 5-1 by Rangers on Sunday, St Johnstone bore a more solid look here. They were rarely seen in an attacking sense, Liam Craig’s tame sidefoot the only first-half test for Scott Bain — standing in for Craig Gordon in the Celtic goal.
The only real defensive stress for Rodgers came when he was forced to field Jack Hendry for the injured Kristoffer Ajer after 33 minutes.
Former Parkhead striker Tony Watt was removed at half-time by opposite number Tommy Wright, replaced by Chris Kane. It made little difference to the flow of a game in which Celtic pushed and Saints tried manfully to hold firm.
St Mirren and Kilmarnock flustered the champions by getting bodies behind the ball in numbers and the home team learned from that in the opening hour.
Celtic’s inability to work up a head of steam until the second period helped, of course.
The Parkhead side flew out the traps after the restart.
McGregor came close to atoning for his missed chance in first-half stoppage time, forcing Clark to push a prodded, poked shot round the left-hand post. A more emphatic strike minutes later called the Saints keeper to the fray once more.
Clark was finding his form. An Ntcham curling strike from 25 yards was turned round the post.
St Johnstone’s goal began to look charmed when Griffiths nicked the ball past Craig before dragging his low, left-foot shot wide of the post.
More so when the Scotland striker blew a third wonderful chance in 72 minutes, shrugging aside Shaughnessy to find a rare yard of space. With time and space to finish, Griffiths again put his effort too close to Clark — the keeper blocking with his legs.
St Johnstone came within inches of making Celtic pay for all the wasted chances. Breaking up the pitch, winger David Wotherspoon cut in from the right and curled a terrific strike inches wide of Bain’s upright.
Griffiths’ goal was far from the end of the drama. Boyata’s red card after words with referee John Beaton offered St Johnstone a belated glimmer of hope.
Seconds later, Shaughnessy blew it when he headed Richard Foster’s diagonal long ball wide of the far post with Bain well off his line and the goal unguarded. ST JOHNSTONE (4-5-1): Clark; Tanser, Shaughnessy, Kerr, Foster; Callachan, Craig (McMillan 84), Alston, Wotherspoon, Wright (Swanson 66); Watt (Kane 45). Subs not used: Mitchell, Anderson, Nydam, Kennedy. Booked: None. CELTIC (3-5-2): Bain; Lustig, Boyata, Ajer (Hendry 33); Tierney, Brown, Ntcham, McGregor (Rogic 75), Forrest; Griffiths, Edouard (Morgan 66). Subs not used: Gordon, Mulumbu, Christie, Sinclair. Booked: Tierney. Sent off: Boyata. Referee: John Beaton. Attendance: 5,635. Man of the match: Leigh Griffiths.