Callum McGregor worldy saves Celtic from stumble but no sign of ceasefire as protests continue
Late winner floors St Mirren as harsh lesson handed out
Winning matches will never entirely appease the increasingly disgruntled element of the Celtic support but it certainly won’t do any harm.
Martin O’Neill’s side were poor for the majority of an attritional contest at St Mirren, creating little and lacking poise or purpose.
They looked on course to drop league points for the first time since O’Neill returned to take temporary charge but Callum McGregor had other ideas.
Taking the ball around 25 yards out and with the clock having ticked into the 95th minute, the Celtic captain lashed an unstoppable shot high past goalkeeper Shamal George to break the deadlock in thrilling fashion, another worldy in a week of spectacular strikes.
That was cruel on the home side who again learned the painful lesson that missing chances will often come back to haunt you come the final reckoning.
That couldn’t have been further from the Celtic supporters’ minds as they poured onto the Paisley pitch before raucously hailing O’Neill and his players at the final whistle.
That O’Neill was still in charge at all for this one was a sign of how slow progress has been in recruiting a permanent successor to Brendan Rodgers, with even O’Neill surprised that he was still needed as interim boss for a fifth outing.
A deal to land Wilfried Nancy from Columbus Crew had been expected to have been completed during the international break but any chance to ask the Celtic hierarchy about that was lost amid the acrimonious squabble that was the club’s annual general meeting on Friday.
The ever-growing disconnect between support and board likely wouldn’t deter any prospective managerial candidate but there is little prospect of a ceasefire breaking out any time soon. The 1600 or so travelling fans aired the first “sack the board” chants before the teams came out accompanied by the red cards waved at the AGM and a sole banner that read “Baillieston against the board”.
More pressingly for O’Neill was the lengthy injured list that deprived him here of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kelechi Iheanacho, James Forrest, Marcelo Saracchi, Alistair Johnston and Callum Osmand for a match that also served as a dress rehearsal for next month’s Premier Sports Cup final.
Perhaps as a result of that injury list, the ongoing off-field turmoil or the unaccustomed Saturday 8pm kick off, Celtic just couldn’t get going in the opening period, with passes regularly going astray and one attempted shot from Johnny Kenny sliced so badly it almost sailed over the roof of the stand.
Not for the first time this season, their most creative outlet was Sebastian Tounetki. The winger always looked eager to make something happen whenever play came his way and one driven effort wasn’t far off target.
This was O’Neill’s first away league match of his second spell and it was turning into one to forget as St Mirren pressed and cajoled his players. They should have been at least one goal to the good by the interval, perhaps two. Conor McMenamin, deployed as a roving No.10, missed the best of them after just seven minutes. Declan John’s cross from the left couldn’t have been better placed and McMenamin, stretching, got a toe onto it but touched it wide of goal.
Undeterred, the Northern Irishman had another bash later in the half from distance that grazed the outside of the post before Miguel Freckleton lashed another effort over the top just before the half-time whistle. At that point you didn’t have to be the most pessimistic of Paisley punters to suspect they would likely regret such profligacy. And so it proved.
O’Neill brought on Luke McCowan for the ineffective Kenny at half-time and stuck Daizen Maeda through the middle where his pace and energy immediately provided Celtic with a greater focal point. It also set up an intriguing battle of mind and muscle between Maeda and Alex Gogic, something that Kenny had failed to provide in the first period.
St Mirren still had the better of the chances – Jayden Richardson saw his shot well blocked by Kieran Tierney – but there was a far greater menace about Celtic as they penned their hosts back in their box. When the ball did finally land in the net after 70 minutes, Liam Scales was spared the embarrassment of having scored an own goal by McMenamin being flagged for offside.
It looked like both teams would need to settle for a point apiece but McGregor had other ideas, his winning strike arriving late on and fit to win any game.
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