The relentless Celtic juggernaut motors on after a 5-1 mauling of St Mirren.
The Hoops suffered a shock start when another VAR penalty decision went against them in six minutes – although it looked like the officials got this one right. The ball bounced up and hit Greg Taylor on the arm and he seemed to make a second touch. David Dickinson watched a review and pointed to the spot.
Alex O'Hara, who scored in the September win over Celtic and also at Parkhead last month, made a good job of the spotkick tucking the ball past Joe Hart into the left corner.
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Celtic dominated from that point but lacked composure or a spark in front of goal. The when Charles Dunne was sent off just before half-time for pulling back Kyogo Furuhashi it was inevitable Celtic would prevail.
Liel Abada inspired the second half demolition as he scored along with Jota, Alistair Johnston, Matt O’Riley and Oh Hyeon-gyu slotted a penalty
Three things we learned
Abada can he a Hearts stopper
Ange Postecoglou has been very loyal to Daizen Maeda who has been a tireless and energetic contributor for Celtic and the type of player that team-mates love to play beside.
However, it just hasn’t been happening in the last couple of matches for Japan’s World Cup striker and it’s time that he is moved aside and Liel Abada is let into the team.
The live-wire Israeli was the catalyst to the second half demolition of Saints and he now surely deserved to be called upon for the double header against Hearts with a Premiership clash at Celtic Park to be followed by a tasty Scottish Cup quarter-final at Tynecastle next weekend.
His drive and enthusiasm rubbed off on those around and more importantly he was clinical.
Josip who?
There were many Celtic supporters who were concerned that Josip Juranovic would be a major loss when not too much of a fight was made to stop the full back leaving for Union Berlin.
However, it might just be that Alistair Johnston is proving to be not just an adequate replacement but a major upgrade.
Johnston is a fierce competitor and looks a better defender than Juranovic, who was largely an excellent player during 18 months at Parkhead.
The Canadian also showed his attacking threat with some great crosses and, of course, his great desire to get on the end of Aaron Mooy’s free kick for the second goal.
Dunne and dusted
There was every chance that Celtic would have run away from St Mirren in the second half at the SmiSA but Charles Dunne made sure of it.
It was such slack defending from the centre back when he was short with a pass-back and then pulled down Kyogo to be sent off just before half-time.
Even when he was having such a quiet game – the Japanese striker had just TWO touches in the first half – Kyogo had a major influence on the outcome with his clever play and positioning.
Dunne, though, let his team down badly through his poor play and St Mirren now have two big matches coming up with could determine their status after the spit – Dundee United and Livingston.
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