BOYATA’S GREAT LEAP FORWARD
Dedryck soars above stubborn Saints to match Lions landmark
TO match lions, a team have to bear their fangs. Celtic claimed their slice of history in the end, yet this was a night when St Johnstone proved a hard prey to pin down. Brendan Rodgers’ team equalled the Lisbon Lions’ 26-game unbeaten start to a domestic season. Victory over Hearts on Sunday will set the new benchmark.
The Celtic manager marked the 400th appearance of Scott Brown by presenting his club captain with a commemorative shirt before kick-off.
However, the man who was to prove the difference between these two teams was an altogether less celebrated figure. Not many fancied Dedryck Boyata to make it to mid-January, let alone the end of the transfer window, as a Celtic employee.
Yet the Belgian’s headed winner 18 minutes from time propelled the league leaders 22 points clear and proved a welcome relief for the Parkhead outfit on a night when St Johnstone made a hell of a fight of it.
On evenings like this, the opposition can often feel like an afterthought, an irrelevance even. But Tommy Wright’s team are a stubborn, awkward presence on their travels. Towards the end of this game, they pushed hard for a leveller.
Linked with a move to Chelsea as a challenger for the first-team jersey of Thibaut Courtois, Celtic keeper Craig Gordon had work to do from the off.
The visitors had no Diego Costa, the best they could offer was Steven Anderson.
Scorer of an unlikely winner at Parkhead in a Scottish Cup tie in 2014, the Perth defender made a nuisance of himself at corners here. Less so than Boyata, perhaps.
Yet he powered a header just wide of the upright from a Saints corner. Ten minutes later, Gordon fumbled a corner out to the edge of the box where the No 6 lobbed the ball towards the back post.
The keeper scrambled back to tip it over the bar in a crowded area. But this much was clear; St Johnstone weren’t here to make up the numbers. They wouldn’t be patting anyone on the back.
Scott Sinclair had the ball in the net from a backpost header, but the effort was disallowed after James Forrest overran the ball before crossing. The assumption was that Celtic were finding their range, but things didn’t pan out like that.
St Johnstone were dogged, they flooded the area with bodies, they were hard to break down.
Stuart Armstrong has six goals in his last 11 games and came close to adding to that tally when a curling effort from the edge of the box forced Saints keeper Zander Clark to readjust and palm the ball over the bar.
From Sinclair’s corner, Boyata — in for the benched Erik Sviatchenko — had acres of space to power a header towards the top corner. It needed a clearing header from David Wotherspoon on the line.
When Rodgers says he wants to keep Boyata, people think the Celtic manager is being polite. Within seconds of coming close to the opener, however, the Belgian was galloping back to the other end, a vital block denying striker Chris Kane as he advanced on goal.
St Johnstone didn’t waste much time with regrets. When Celtic made a meal of dealing with the corner, Danny Swanson came to within inches of smacking the visitors into the lead, a low 20-yard shot striking the base of the post.
No one was in much doubt now. If Celtic were matching the record, they’d have to break some sweat in the process.
The Parkhead side banged at the door before half-time. Moussa Dembele was oddly lacklustre. He had two chances from Sinclair cut-backs, one slotted weakly wide, the other pelted over the bar.
This looked like a game crying out for Leigh Griffiths.
A flowing, passing move by the home team ended the half with a Forrest drive from the edge of the area being pushed wide by Clark. Wright’s team were dogged when they had to be.
Inevitably, Celtic came out with a spring in their step after the break. There was palpable anticipation when skipper Brown received the ball. A desire for a goal or, failing that, a solid contribution.
The fans almost had the goal they craved when the Scotland midfielder’s energy drove him towards the byeline. He managed to produce a cut-back, but Forrest sliced wide of the upright.
Within moments, Brown had a go himself, driving the ball down the middle of goal for a comfortable Clark save.
If there can ever be a gripe for a team 20-odd points clear at the top of the league, it was their failure to produce a few more saves from the visiting keeper.
Armstrong’s driving run and shot produced a parry in 62 minutes. As Patrick Roberts took to the pitch for Forrest, it was never likely to be the Saints keeper’s last.
The on-loan Manchester City winger had an instant impact, ghosting between Keith Watson and Tam Scobbie to make for the byeline, his cut-back mis-hit by an out-of-sorts Dembele before the ball crept away from the despairing lunge of Sinclair at the back post.
Celtic weren’t knocking at the door now. They were taking a battering ram to the surface.
Boyata had been denied by a goal-line clearance in the first half. St Johnstone failed to learn the lesson.
The home team forced two corner-kicks in the 72nd minute, both taken by Armstrong. From the first, the unmarked Boyata forced a save from Clark. From the second, he thumped a header into the roof of the net to widespread relief around Celtic Park.
St Johnstone’s anguish at conceding was exacerbated when referee Andrew Dallas ignored loud penalty shouts after Brown put his hands on the back of Anderson in the area.
Roberts could have added a second following a dazzling solo run, blazing the ball wildly over.
Celtic’s failure to wrap up this game encouraged St Johnstone to press hard — unsuccessfully — for a leveller.