Maddening for Main man
Saints ace’s double stuns Celtic but it was near to being vital matchwinning treble
IN NORMAL circumstances, two goals in a well-deserved draw at Celtic Park to tarnish the homecoming party of the confirmed title-winners would be an excellent return for any visiting striker.
Not so St Mirren’s Curtis Main yesterday. His reaction at the final whistle told you that in glorious technicolour. Denied a hat-trick by the width of the post and guilty of twice heading over from good positions with the Buddies 2-1 ahead, he felt he should have had more. Much more.
Saints, of course, are still in the hunt for an unlikely European place as long as Celtic go on to win the Scottish Cup. They are now two points behind fifth-placed Hibs with the Easter Road side playing host to Rangers today.
However, they could very easily be two points better off and those two points would have been mighty handy with their remaining games coming in the form of a trip to Aberdeen and a visit from Rangers.
Main knows it. When referee David Munro whistled to bring an end to five minutes of time added on, the former Motherwell and Aberdeen man put his head in his hands and kept it there for longer than anyone would have expected.
When finally uncovering his face, he stood alone in the centre of the field, looking at the heavens. It must have been a good minute or more before he shook hands with anyone, the approach made by Greg Taylor snapping him out of his own little world and back into the reality of the situation.
For all the possession Celtic enjoyed and the chances they carved out, there is no question Ange Postecoglou’s team were there to be shot at yesterday.
They weren’t on point at all when losing 3-0 at Ibrox last weekend and were shaky from the off here, conceding to Main after just four minutes.
As Postecoglou himself admitted post-match, they just haven’t been committed to the defensive side of the game properly. However, there were some awful individual errors in this display, too. And some poor performances, with Tomoki Iwata proving that he certainly isn’t a natural centre-half.
He played a part in the concession of that quickfire opener, although he wasn’t the main culprit. Saints goalkeeper Trevor Carson launched a long punt upfield that should really have been meat and drink to the combative Japanese and Anthony Ralston. However, they managed to get in each other’s way and allowed the ball to be picked up on the left of the penalty area by Main.
Even then, the visiting striker still had plenty of work to do. However, Ralston showed little in the way of opposition when permitting the shaven-headed Saints forward to step inside and take aim.
Main’s low shot, when it arrived, was pretty much straight at Joe Hart, but the Celtic keeper made an almighty hash of it, mistiming his dive and allowing the ball to go underneath his body and into the net. Before the quarter-hour mark had been reached, though, it looks as if Celtic had shunted themselves back into the gear. Certainly, the goal which levelled the scores at 1-1 was slick, sharp and deadly.
Ralston, no doubt keen to atone for his role in the opener, played a firm pass inside to Reo Hatate, whose brilliant first-time ball released Kyogo Furuhashi on the right side of the area.
The Japanese forward looked up, took the ball in his stride and released a superb effort which flew high into the net past Carson.
Yet, Celtic never quite developed the stranglehold expected. Saints stayed calm, stayed organised, always looked to pick their moments and hit on the counter when the opportunity afforded itself. A couple of corners caused consternation, with Richard Taylor coming close to getting on the end of one just yards from goal and then forcing Hart to smother at the far post after getting on the end of a knock-on from Greg Kiltie.
There was a moment of unease for the visitors when it took the intervention of Carson’s face to prevent a deflected cross from Jota sneaking in at the near post, but their strong presence in the game had never dropped and they duly went 2-1 in front six minutes before the interval.
A long throw-in from Joe Shaughnessy had been cleared from the Celtic area, but Mark O’Hara showed great presence of mind to
knock the ball back in towards Main and the English striker did really well in getting his head through the ball from a standing position and directing it into the corner of the net from around 12 yards.
VAR Steven Kirkland took a look at the reruns for a potential offside, but the goal was allowed to stand.
In truth, Main could have pretty much ended this as a contest three minutes after the interval when he jumped highest at the back post to connect with a Ryan Strain cross, but he missed the target with his header.
Strain is a dangerous player on the right, most certainly destined for greater things.
He put in another ball for Main just over 10 minutes later that the striker headed just over the bar from a similar position.
Celtic had their chances too. Furuhashi passed up a sitter directly in front of Carson and then just failed to connect with a low ball across goal from Daizen Maeda.
With the game actually picking up in pace as it progressed, Main came desperately close yet again with 11 minutes remaining.
He produced a lovely piece of play to move clear of Iwata and release a thunderbolt that cracked flush off the face of the far post.
From that escape, Celtic burst straight upfield with substitute Hyeon-gyu Oh hitting the upright with a beautiful curling effort from distance.
Moments later, it was 2-2, Callum McGregor moving onto a simple pass from Liel Abada and side-footing the ball low to Carson’s right from the edge of the area. A telling piece of coolness and clarity amid the maelstrom.
It is more hard graft Celtic need, though, as they bid to get back on song before that Hampden cup final against Inverness on June 3.
They’ve taken their eyes off the ball, no doubt. And that is most unlike them.