Celtic 2 - 0 St Johnstone: ‘Stan’ together as club focus on Petrov

CELTIC Park did not have the opportunity to stand and honour the title winners. Instead, those gathered inside the stadium rose to applaud the fight being waged by Stiliyan Petrov, the former Celtic midfielder diagnosed with acute leukaemia at the end of last week.

This show of support was choreographed for the 19th minute, the number of shirt which the man known as Stan wore both at current club Aston Villa and during his distinguished days at Parkhead, footage from which was shown at half-time.

The Celtic coaching staff also displayed the fact that their thoughts were with their former team-mate by wearing training tops bearing the name Petrov across the shoulders and his squad number on the back.

Rightly, there was barely an acknowledgement of what might have been had Rangers not grabbed a last-gasp winner against Motherwell the previous day. Those who remained until the final whistle afforded their heroes a quick cheer and then departed into the afternoon. Next stop, Rugby Park.

This would not have been the day for a party whatever had happened at Fir Park. The focus returned to Celtic’s own efforts yesterday after some Petrov-inspired reflection. At the moment, it is a rather brutal light which has to be trained on the champions-elect, who were unimpressive again yesterday after a run of only one win in four away outings.

Yet the win gained on this return to Parkhead, earned through a header by Georgios Samaras and an own goal by St Johnstone midfielder Chris Millar, sets up the possibility of a title coronation at Rugby Park in six days’ time. Celtic know that another victory, or draw, will seal a championship win viewed as inevitable since the day Rangers entered administration. Deprived of bona fide challengers, Celtic have resorted to making it hard for themselves.

The visitors will rue a brace of near misses at the start of the second half as St Johnstone attempted to catch Celtic cold after holding their hosts in the opening 45 minutes. Cillian Sherdan’s header past the post, following Dave Mackay’s cross, was possibly the best opportunity. Fran Sandaza then sent a looping header just over.

Manager Steve Lomas also lamented a series of key decisions by referee George Salmond which he felt had gone against his side. He wanted a penalty for a body-check on Sandaza in the second-half and he also complained about the soft nature of the free kick, for David McCracken’s barge into Samaras, from which Celtic opened the scoring. His list of grievances was completed by what was an admittedly flagrant foul on Liam Craig by Kris Commons in the run-up to the home team’s game-sealing secong goal, ‘claimed’ by the unfortunate Millar.

With the league title celebrations on hold for another time and place, attention fell on the race for the Champions League qualifying place. It is a contest which has been ignited by Motherwell’s defeat by Rangers on Saturday, coupled with the good form of both St Johnstone and Dundee United.

The capture of Derek Riordan could come to be viewed as a canny piece of business if the Perth side are able to secure third spot. The former Hibs player was not named in the squad yesterday, although he looked on from the main stand. Instead, St Johnstone relied on a team of old dependables who had managed to put together a remarkable run of just two defeats in 17 away matches prior to kick-off yesterday. Despite playing with only one striker in the recent clash at St Mirren, Lomas opted for his usal front pairing in Sandaza and former Celtic man Sheridan. “Not many teams come here and play two up front,” commented Lomas afterwards.

St Johnstone can clearly scent history in the air as they take note of Motherwell’s stumbling form. They could and perhaps should have taken something from Parkhead, where they collected all three points on their previous visit earlier in the season.

The visitors were clearly not afraid to have a go and kept the ball well in the opening half. Scoring opportunities were few and far between. Commons’ angled shot slipped past the post after Anthony Stokes had dinked a ball into his path. But the best chance fell just before half time as Charlie Mulgrew sought to sweep the ball into the net after a Commons free-kick created chaos in the box, and left goalkeeper Alan Mannus in a heap on the ground. Frazer Wright, however, was perfectly placed on the line to clear and then made a commendable block to follow up as Stokes tried to rifle in the rebound.

St Johnstone’s game-plan was likely based around preventing Celtic scoring in the first half. This aim duly achieved, they set about hurting their opponents at the start of the second half. The hosts were strangely subdued as first Sheridan flicked a header past and then Sandaza looped an effort over the bar.

Neil Lennon quickly sought to give his side more impetus, switching home debutant Mikael Lustig for Adam Matthews after only 55 minutes. Scott Brown then sent a deflected shot narrowly wide before Commons saw his looping effort tipped over by Mannus. Commons, clearly relishing his return to favour under Lennon, then turned provider as his delivery was headed into the net by Samaras, after 66 minutes.

It seemed a sadly uncomplicated way for St Johnstone to go behind following the investment of so much energy since kick-off. They might well have equalised only three minutes later if not for a last-ditch clearance by Matthews at the far post, with Craig waiting to pounce on a Lee Croft cross.

Just a minute later came the game-sealing goal, though no-one will convince Lomas that it should have been allowed to be scored after Commons bundled Craig over in the Celtic half. The home side took advantage of the fact there was no whistle and quickly broke upfield. Samaras’ dangerous cross, after a lay-off by Ki, was turned into his own net by Millar as he made a desperate attempt to clear.

St Johnstone might have at least scored with three minutes remaining, but Sandaza’s half-cleared cross fell to Craig’s wrong foot, and he blazed over. Although there was not even the consolation of a goal on this occasion, the visitors know there is still much to play for in the coming weeks. Celtic, too, move on with relish.