CELTIC STUMBLE INTO HISTORY BOOKS
Shaky shift but forgotten Boy rises to make history
THIS game may look good in the history books, but without its footnotes it would have meant very little.
Celtic’s win over St Johnstone was enough to bring them level with a 50-year Lisbon Lions record of 26 successive games without defeat at the start of a season, but it was heavy going at times against a resolute St Johnstone side.
Dedryck Boyata’s emergence from cold storage – last night’s appearance was just his third of the season – was celebrated with a 73rd-minute headed goal that broke the resistance of the Perthshire side and put Brendan Rodgers into the Celtic history books.
Scott Brown was presented with a commemorative shirt by Rodgers before the match to mark his 400th game for the club, but in truth the presentation might well have been the highlight f or the Hoops skipper.
It was a turgid, sticky night for Celtic who found it difficult to penetrate their visitors.
It was fitting that the opening half should culminate with Scott Sinclair striking the ball off a wall of St Johnstone legs given how frustrating the opening period had been for Celtic.
There was a flatness about Rodgers’ side that hasn’t often been glimpsed since the 43-year-old arrived in Glasgow last June.
St Johnstone made a decent fist of the game, getting forward and asking questions of a defence that had Boyata in the middle of it for the second successive game with Erik Sviatchenko having to settle for a place on the bench.
Boyata had a header cleared off the line in the first period, but from the resultant clearance he had to get back to make a tackle in his own penalty box as play moved from one end of the pitch to the other.
Sinclair had put the ball in the net in the early stages, only for it to be chalked off after James Forrest’s cutback had gone out of play before being pinged across.
It was St Johnstone, though, who came closest to open the scoring when Danny Swanson battered a post after meeting Liam Craig’s corner.
St Johnstone – the last domestic team to beat Celtic when the teams met at McDiarmid Park last May – frustrated Rodgers’ side, but it was not because they were content to sit back and soak up the pressure; Tommy Wright’s side were eager too to have a go at Celtic.
Stuart Armstrong tried his luck from distance with an effort that was palmed over the crossbar by Zander Clark, while Moussa Dembele, quiet in the opening exchanges, came to life as the interval beckoned.
Twice the French under-21 internationalist collected in the box in decent areas only to ping one effort past the post and hit another over the bar.
Celtic re-started the game with more zip and energy with Kieran Tierney on the left delivering much of what went into the box. The defender has spent the last three months out injured but showed no ill effects of his time in the treatment room with a number of his trademark forward runs. Despite t hat, t he second period proved to
be as laborious as the first with few genuine chances.
FORREST tried an effort inside the box that whizzed wide but there wasn’t too much to get excited about.
Man of the moment Brown had a shot saved by Clark that brought applause but did not yield the goal the stadium craved, while shortly afterwards Armstrong had an effort palmed wide by the St Johnstone goalkeeper.
Rodgers waited until just after the hour mark before introducing Patrick Roberts into the fray with Forrest making way for Man City’s on-loan winger.
Almost immediately the teenager made an impact as he weaved his way into the box but as he cut the ball across, Dembele’s touch seemed to distract Sinclair who was unable to convert at the back post.
Cristian Gamboa stung the palms of Clark with a longrange effort but although Celtic pushed and harried, they struggled to find the penetration needed.
Then, as Celtic’s frustration grew, Boyata rose to meet an Armstrong corner and power a header into the net.
Brown could have blotted his copybook with a push on Steven Anderson that was missed by referee Andrew Dallas.
With their noses in front, Celtic brought Leigh Griffiths into the fray for Dembele as the Parkhead side looked to make the scoreline a little more comfortable.
There was almost a swaggering cameo from Brown as the minutes ticked down with the midfielder jinking into the box in search of a goal; however after some nifty footwork he lifted his attempt over the bar.
SHORTLY after, it was announced that Brown was the man of the match, a decision that was applauded by the crowd on a night where the result was best seen as part of a bigger picture.