NUMBER’S UP IN THIS TITLE RACE
Relentless Celtic add to remarkable goals tally as runaway leaders put five past stunned Saints
FOR the supporters, it’s all about ‘the 10’ — but the numbers behind this Celtic team’s pursuit of a ninth consecutive title are racking up at an impressive rate.
Leigh Griffiths’ hat-trick was the headline story of this romp and, in claiming his treble, he became the fifth of Neil Lennon’s players to make it into double figures for the season.
Two of the others, Odsonne Edouard and Callum McGregor, joined him on the scoresheet to take their personal tallies to 28 and 13 respectively.
Now 16 points clear of Rangers at the top of the table, Celtic have also posted a goal difference of plus 70, with eight league games to play.
‘Plus 70?’ gasped Lennon when presented with that detail after the match. ‘Wow. I’m delighted with that.’
With 89 league goals scored, Celtic have already blitzed their totals for the last two seasons and could yet challenge the 106 scored during Brendan Rodgers’ Invincible season of 2016-17.
‘When I came in, I thought we could maybe up the tempo and play forward a little bit more,’ said Lennon. ‘We certainly had the players who could score goals.
‘The backroom team and I worked on that but the players have to go out and do it, and they have done magnificently so far.’
Lennon is reaping the rewards of a relatively drama-free season in which he has proved adept at maintaining, by his own standards, a low profile.
Equally serene has been St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin, who has been fascinating to watch in his new guise as a Premiership manager this campaign.
A firebrand as a player with a tendency to combust, the Irishman has emerged as a thoughtful coach and one who, after a difficult start, has given the Paisley side a decent shot at avoiding the play-offs.
This, however was a day to forget. ‘It’s quite scary really, Celtic probably never got out of second gear this afternoon and still put five past us,’ he lamented afterwards.
Stability has been key to the league leaders’ season and even after a grind of a game at Livingston in midweek, Lennon was not tempted to delve too far into his deep pool of players. He made just two changes, accommodating Griffiths and Tom Rogic in place of Mohamed Elyounoussi and Ryan Christie.
Lennon has felt compelled to give the partnership of Griffiths and Edouard plenty of game time in 2020 but there was precious little link-up between the two before they suddenly sprung into life and opened the game up.
Griffiths talked up his Scotland ambitions prior to this match and he backed up his plea in deed.
After a false start last August, it’s taken him time to get up to speed for Lennon, but his sharp form of 2020 moved on to a new level with this display of clinical finishing that should be sufficient to secure a recall from the national coach ahead of Scotland’s Euro play-off against Israel later this month.
With St Mirren’s fiveman defence camped deep, it took a patient build-up to force the goal but there was still oodles of Edouard’s trademark nonchalance in the lofted cross that presented Griffiths with a tap-in from close range.
St Mirren’s pleas for an offside flag were rightly ignored and Goodwin was indebted to goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky for stopping his team going under in the ensuing minutes.
The Czech’s leaping save to keep out Edouard was impressive and he then denied James Forrest twice. The second of those stops was routine, the first prevented the winger a rare headed goal from point-blank range after he met a Scott Brown cross.
Hladky was at it again to deny Rogic on the stretch, fully justifying the expectation that he will move on to bigger things in the summer.
The keeper tried his best to keep out Griffiths’ second but if he managed any intervention, it was only to slow the finish; a dinked effort on the back of a one-two with Rogic, on to the inside of the post and over the line.
Hladky stalled the hat-trick celebrations with a fingertip save after the break but Griffiths quickly claimed an assist when he threaded the ball into the quicksilver feet of Edouard. A rapid shift from right to left and the ball was nestling behind the goalkeeper.
St Mirren mustered a couple of sweeping counter-attack moves, one ending with Jon Obika whipping a shot narrowly wide, while Tony Andreu forced Fraser Forster’s first save of the day late on.
While the visitors were unable to get a hold of the ball for any significant period of time Celtic were in controlled, assertive mood, one that only heightened after the arrival of Christie for Rogic.
Christie played his part in the build-up to Griffiths’ hat-trick goal before McGregor fed Forrest for the low pass which Edouard cleverly dummied en route to the man of the match.
From 20 yards, Griffiths drew back his left boot and drilled home a finish that was his hallmark before personal issues forced an extended absence from the game.
‘The second goal was probably my favourite,’ reflected the striker later. ‘I managed to work a wee one-two with Tom and just clip the ball over the keeper which was a nice finish.
‘The third was just what I normally do, get it out my feet and hit the target.’
Now on 11 for the season and with eight scored since the turn of the year, fans of club and country should be glad to see him back.
There was another comeback for Celtic fans to hail as Hatem Elhamed appeared as a substitute for the first time this year and the defender promptly won the penalty kick that completed the day’s scoring.
Referee Gavin Duncan pointed to the spot after Sam Foley’s trip took down the Israeli international and McGregor coolly converted.