By Callum McFadden at St Mirren Park.
St Mirren 0-3 Celtic
McGregor , 3
Hatate, 33
Johnston, 71
Celtic defeated St Mirren in Paisley to continue their unbeaten start to the Scottish Premiership season.
Celtic made the perfect start to the game by taking the lead inside three minutes when James Forrest dribbled inside from the right wing to lay the ball off to Callum McGregor who smashed home a low, driven effort from 25 yards to the right of Saints goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe.
Forrest continued to be a thorn in St Mirren’s side when he set up Reo Hatate for a shot on goal from the edge of the box in the 13th minute. Thankfully for the Saints, Balcombe parried the ball away and was able to react quickly to deny Adam Idah on the rebound.
Adam Idah was the next Celtic player to call Balcombe into action when he ran on to a through ball by Hatate only to see his shot saved by the legs of the home goalkeeper.
Celtic doubled their lead in the 33rd minute when Daizen Maeda headed a long-range pass from Alistair Johnston into the path of an oncoming Hatate who fired a low shot into the St Mirren net off the post.
Stephen Robinson made a double change at halftime to try and turn the tide of momentum with Roland Idowu and Mikael Mandron replacing Alex Gogic and Joseph Ayunga.
The second half started at a frantic pace with both sides having early opportunities within five minutes of the restart. Forrest was denied a shot on goal by a last-gasp Richard Taylor block while Toyosi Olusanya was denied a clear effort on goal by a similarly timed block from Johnston.
Celtic’s talisman Kyogo was introduced on the cusp of the hour mark and he nearly added a third for Celtic in the 67th minute, only to be denied by the sprawling legs of Balcombe.
Minutes later, it was Canadian international Johnston who added a third and final goal for Celtic when he fired a shot into the roof of the St Mirren net after being set up for a shot inside the penalty area by substitute Nicolas Kuhn.
Victory today maintains Celtic’s perfect start to the SPFL season with four wins from four in league and cup action. Next up for the Champions is the first Glasgow derby of the season against Rangers at Celtic Park on Sunday, September 1st.
WFI player of the match: Callum McGregor (Celtic) – The Celtic captain was inspirational from the first minute to the last. Took his goal well and continues to show why he is held in such high regard by Brendan Rodgers and the Celtic support.
St Mirren: Balcombe, Iacovitti, Taylor, O’Hara, Ayunga (Mandron, 45), Gogic (Idowu, 45), Rooney, Olusanya (Sutherland, 89), Brown, Fraser, Phillips (Smyth, 74)
Substitutes: Urminsky, Kenny, Bwomono, Tanser, Sutherland, F. Taylor, Smyth, Idowu, Mandron
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor (Ralston, 75), McGregor, Bernardo (Holm, 75), Hatate (Turley, 89) Forrest (Kuhn, 59), Maeda, Idah (Kyogo, 59)
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Palma, Kyogo, Kuhn, Yang, Holm, Ralston, Welsh, Turley