Stephen Robinson says Celtic didn't threaten and St Mirren lost due to 'two ricochets'

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson felt ill-fortune was responsible for sinking his side in their 2-0 loss to Celtic more than the wiles of a home side who penned them in throughout.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson directs his players during the 2-0 defeat at Celtic Park. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

But he took heart from the stoicism that kept Ange Postecoglou’s men at bay until early in the second half Cameron Carter-Vickers struck following the break of the ball in the box, which proved a similar lead-up to Callum McGregor making the points safe 10 minutes from time. The result leaves him with two defeats from his opening two games in charge of the Paisley club, but he was able to detect encouraging signs, as well as areas to work on.

“It’s frustrating. They had a lot of possession, a lot of possession in front of us,” said Robinson. “Defensively I thought we were excellent. We were really well organised and got to half-time and they created minimal chances. Second half until the goal I’m not sure Jak had many saves to make.

“It was two ricochets in the box, one that fell to Carter-Vickers and the other comes off Conor McCarthy’s face and lands straight at Callum McGregor. If you are going to come to Celtic Park and lose it’s usually a 430 yard wondergoal or a bit of combination play. It wasn’t. I thought we were really disciplined, really organised. We can be braver on the ball, that’s the biggest thing out of the last two games I’ve learned. It’s something we have to get better at.

“The boys executed the plan very well. I only set them up, it’s them that deserve the credit. They didn’t feel under any kind of threat. I’ve been here a lot of times where you think you could end up losing 15-0 the way Celtic are playing. We didn’t feel like that at all at any stage tonight. We felt in control out of possession and we just weren’t quite good enough on the ball to create things or get ourselves up the pitch often enough to actually earn a point or three points.”

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