St Mirren 0-3 Celtic: Maeda, O'Riley & Taylor score in comfortable win

Posted by Patria Henriques on Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Celtic scored twice in the opening six minutes on the way to beating St Mirren and maintaining their eight-point lead at the summit of the Scottish Premiership.

Daizen Maeda scored his side's first goal of the year for the third successive January when he dashed away from Scott Tanser to fire beyond Zach Hemming after just 54 seconds.

After neatly setting up the first, Matt O'Riley smartly tucked away the second. His wonderful first touch created the angle for Hemming to be nutmegged to round off a magnificent move.

The half could not have started any worse for Stephen Robinson's side and it ended in similar disappointment as Toyosi Olusanya was shown a red card after a VAR review after his boot caught Joe Hart's face.

That decision made a tough test even tougher for the Paisley side and Greg Taylor's second-half thunderous volley inflicted further misery.

Following Rangers' early win against Kilmarnock, Celtic reclaimed their advantage, albeit having played two games more, while St Mirren remain in fifth, two points behind Derek McInnes' side.

Backing up Saturday's derby day victory was imperative for the league leaders, but against a St Mirren side who took an early lead the last time the sides met at Celtic Park, there were no guarantees the three points would come easy.

However, a speedy start settled any nerves among the away support. The quickest goal of the season for the champions was scored by Maeda, but it was all about the perfectly-weighted pass from O'Riley, making his 100th Celtic appearance.

The Denmark international had Paulo Bernardo to thank for the milestone being marked by a goal. The crafty Portuguese midfielder turned tremendously and teed up his team-mate in a classy move.

St Mirren failed to threaten, but pre-match Robinson had highlighted Olusanya's pace as an asset in a game where opportunities would be few and far between.

On the rare occasion the ball made its way to Celtic goalmouth, the striker mistimed his attempt and instead caught Hart in the face. His initial yellow card was upgraded after David Munro was asked to take another look at the incident.

With a player advantage, Celtic's speed and tempo was even more pronounced. Bernardo again provided a sensational assist, this time a dinked effort into the path for the left-back to slam home.

This came just minutes after the Portuguese had his own top-corner bound effort well saved by Hemming.

If it wasn't for the St Mirren goalkeeper, the scoreline could have been much heavier. Substitutes Oh Hyeon-gyu, Yang Hyun-jun and Liel Abada were all denied, while Kyogo also headed wide when a goal appeared likely.

Player of the match - Paulo Bernardo (Celtic)

Celtic ruthlessly respond in comfortable and commanding win - analysis

What a difference a week can make.

Last Tuesday, Celtic swept aside Dundee in a "much more like it" showing after a profligate performance against Livingston and the back-to-back defeats by Kilmarnock and Hearts.

That was followed up by a statement win against their fiercest rivals at the weekend and rounded off by this comfortable victory.

With 24 shots - 11 of which were on target - Celtic were back to their free-flowing best. The shackles were off.

With 103 final third entries and 53 touches in the opposition box, the confidence that had perhaps appeared dented of late was back. It could have been so much more if it were not for Hemming.

O'Riley and Callum McGregor have been shining lights throughout but the emergence of Bernardo as an impressive cog in midfield will bring satisfaction to Rodgers.

For St Mirren, it's one to shove to the back of the mind as quickly as Maeda opened the scoring in Paisley.

There were mismatches all over the park long before it was a 10-man task. Overrun in midfield, bamboozled out wide and front men starved of service. A tough pill to swallow after an uplifting win at Pittodrie.

What they said

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: "I haven't seen [the red card] back, but that wasn't the reason why we lost the game so it's irrelevant.

"We started the game really poorly against a very good Celtic side, which you can't do. The red card compounds the pain we're suffering. It was a long afternoon."

'Maeda will be miss but other players coming back'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "We made a really good start, this can be a really tricky place to come and play, but we started on the front foot, playing forward and scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes.

"I'm really pleased, the sending off meant it was more difficult for them but we managed that side of it in the second half much better than we did at the weekend."

What's next?

Both sides are in Scottish Cup action after the winter break. St Mirren host Queen of the South on 20 January (15:00 GMT) while Celtic welcome Buckie Thistle the next day (16:00)

Line-ups

St Mirren

Formation 3-5-2

1Hemming

2Bolton13Gogic5Taylor

22Fraser8Flynn15Boyd-Munce11Kiltie3Tanser

20Olusanya9Mandron

  • 1Hemming
  • 2Bolton
  • 13Gogic
  • 5Taylor
  • 22Fraser
  • 8FlynnSubstituted forBwomonoat 65'minutes
  • 15Boyd-MunceSubstituted forGreiveat 78'minutes
  • 11Kiltie
  • 3Tanser
  • 20OlusanyaBooked at 45mins
  • 9MandronSubstituted forAyungaat 65'minutes

Substitutes

  • 7Ayunga
  • 10McMenamin
  • 16Small
  • 18Dunne
  • 19Nahmani
  • 21Greive
  • 24Jamieson
  • 27Urminsky
  • 42Bwomono

Celtic

Formation 4-3-3

1Hart

2Johnston17Nawrocki5Scales3Taylor

33O'Riley42McGregor28Gonçalves Bernardo

38Maeda8Furuhashi7Palma

  • 1Hart
  • 2Johnston
  • 17NawrockiSubstituted forLagerbielkeat 63'minutes
  • 5Scales
  • 3Taylor
  • 33O'Riley
  • 42McGregor
  • 28Gonçalves BernardoSubstituted forHatateat 71'minutes
  • 38MaedaSubstituted forAbadaat 63'minutes
  • 8FuruhashiSubstituted forOhat 71'minutes
  • 7PalmaSubstituted forYangat 55'minutes

Substitutes

  • 4Lagerbielke
  • 11Abada
  • 13Yang
  • 14Turnbull
  • 19Oh
  • 29Bain
  • 41Hatate
  • 56Ralston
  • 90Johnston

Referee:David Munro

Attendance:6,943

Match Stats

Live Text

  • Match ends, St. Mirren 0, Celtic 3.

  • Second Half ends, St. Mirren 0, Celtic 3.

  • Attempt blocked. Matt O'Riley (Celtic) left footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Liel Abada.

  • Attempt blocked. Oh Hyeon-Gyu (Celtic) right footed shot from very close range is blocked. Assisted by Greg Taylor.

  • Corner, Celtic. Conceded by James Bolton.

  • Attempt blocked. Alistair Johnston (Celtic) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Greg Taylor.

  • Foul by Yang Hyun-Jun (Celtic).

  • Elvis Bwomono (St. Mirren) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  • Attempt saved. Liel Abada (Celtic) left footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner.

  • Foul by Yang Hyun-Jun (Celtic).

  • Elvis Bwomono (St. Mirren) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

  • Liam Scales (Celtic) hits the right post with a header from the centre of the box. Assisted by Matt O'Riley with a cross following a corner.

  • Substitution, St. Mirren. Alex Greive replaces Caolan Boyd-Munce.

  • Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Richard Taylor.

  • Attempt saved. Yang Hyun-Jun (Celtic) right footed shot from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the bottom right corner.

  • Attempt saved. Oh Hyeon-Gyu (Celtic) header from the right side of the six yard box is saved in the top right corner. Assisted by Alistair Johnston with a cross.

  • Attempt blocked. Reo Hatate (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Matt O'Riley.

  • Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Marcus Fraser.

  • Attempt blocked. Reo Hatate (Celtic) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Callum McGregor.

  • Corner, Celtic. Conceded by Elvis Bwomono.

    • Player of the match

    O'RileyMatt O'Riley

    with an average of 8.09

    St Mirren

  • Squad number1Player nameHemming

    Average rating

    6.08

  • Squad number2Player nameBolton

    Average rating

    5.20

  • Squad number21Player nameGreive

    Average rating

    5.00

  • Squad number13Player nameGogic

    Average rating

    4.73

  • Squad number8Player nameFlynn

    Average rating

    4.66

  • Squad number7Player nameAyunga

    Average rating

    4.56

  • Squad number15Player nameBoyd-Munce

    Average rating

    4.49

  • Squad number5Player nameTaylor

    Average rating

    4.39

  • Squad number20Player nameOlusanya

    Average rating

    4.34

  • Squad number11Player nameKiltie

    Average rating

    4.30

  • Squad number22Player nameFraser

    Average rating

    4.24

  • Squad number42Player nameBwomono

    Average rating

    4.24

  • Squad number9Player nameMandron

    Average rating

    4.04

  • Squad number3Player nameTanser

    Average rating

    4.01

    • Celtic

  • Squad number33Player nameO'Riley

    Average rating

    8.09

  • Squad number28Player namePaulo Bernardo

    Average rating

    7.91

  • Squad number42Player nameMcGregor

    Average rating

    7.74

  • Squad number3Player nameTaylor

    Average rating

    7.63

  • Squad number5Player nameScales

    Average rating

    7.56

  • Squad number38Player nameMaeda

    Average rating

    7.56

  • Squad number17Player nameNawrocki

    Average rating

    7.26

  • Squad number8Player nameFuruhashi

    Average rating

    7.25

  • Squad number2Player nameJohnston

    Average rating

    7.22

  • Squad number7Player namePalma

    Average rating

    7.20

  • Squad number1Player nameHart

    Average rating

    7.02

  • Squad number41Player nameHatate

    Average rating

    6.46

  • Squad number4Player nameLagerbielke

    Average rating

    6.40

  • Squad number11Player nameAbada

    Average rating

    6.32

  • Squad number13Player nameYang Hyun-Jun

    Average rating

    6.24

  • Squad number19Player nameOh Hyeon-Gyu

    Average rating

    5.85

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