SPFL
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Celtic Park
CELTIC… 3
(Hatate 52, Kyogo 60, Idah 86)
ST MIRREN… 0
Supplied by Canada, actioned by Japan was the story for Celtic’s opening two goals while the third was much more of a United Nations effort as the Hoops finished off their pre-split league games with a 3-0 win over St Mirren.
It was all about the second half, though, as that’s when all the goal action came in a game that certainly was one of two halves as Reo Hatate, Kyogo and Adam Idah put the cream on top of a performance that saw Celtic get their just desserts.
A swirling wind at Celtic Park was a key player in the first half of the game in which neither keeper was truly troubled but the Hoops had two early opportunities as, first, Hyunjun Yang, then Nicolas Kuhn elected to try to find a team-mate rather than test Zach Hemming in the opposition goal.
The said, swirling as the wind was, when it was more direct, it was at the back of the St Mirren side shooting from east to west and gave the visitors a burst forward at times but, like Hemmng at the other end, Joe Hart was rarely tested with the Hoops defence, featuring Maik Nawrocki in place of Liam Scales, and Cameron Carter-Vickers captaining the side in the absence of Callum McGregor holding firm.
Although, St Mirren’s own profligacy on one or two occasions didn’t help their hopes of finding the net.
The bulk of the chances, though, were at the other end with Kuhn, in particular with back-up from Alistair Johnston, forcing the visitors back into their own box and creating opportunities in a variety of attacks, but routinely any shots came off a defender in the packed St Mirren backline.
That, as much as anything, had a lot to do with the first half finishing goal-less.
The second half began with some of the first-half tickertape debris still creating paper whirlpools on the surface as the Celts attempted to harness the wind, and winning a corner straightaway was only a portent of what was to come.
In the 52nd minute, Johnston played the ball in from the right to Hatate at the edge of the box, the Japanese midfielder’s first delicate touch merely teed him up to fire in an 18-yard shot that gave the keeper no chance.
In the immediate minutes after that, the Celts had ample opportunity to increase their lead with a flurry of attacks in the beleaguered St Mirren box with Kuhn firing in a great volley and then Yang misconnecting with the ball directly in front of goal.
We didn’t have long to wait, though, and Johnston was the provider again on the hour mark as his precise cross was tailor-made for Kyogo to head home and double Celtic’s stranglehold on the proceedings.
And, like the first goal, this one prompted another flurry of attacks on the beleaguered St Mirren defence as a raft of chances were successively created in slick moves that still ended with a 2-0 scoreline that defied logic.
Then, after a quadruple substitution, Luis Palma and Adam Idah both came close before a further substitution, saw a further sub, James Forrest also nearly net what would have been Celtic’s third goal of the half.
It would eventually get to the 3-0 tally when Forrest fed the ball to the left and a succession of chances ended with Idah heading in and scoring Celtic’s third goal for the second week running, but this time adding to a win.3 goals & 3 points on Matchday 33!
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15 сен 2024
