St Johnstone 1-2 Celtic: Odsonne Edouard double completes comeback

Two goals in two minutes from Odsonne Edouard rescued Celtic as they came from behind against St Johnstone to make it four Scottish Premiership wins in a row.

But Edouard’s intervention soon after turned the game on its head with Celtic now 18 points behind league leaders Rangers with a game in hand against Aberdeen this Wednesday.

It is just St Johnstone’s second defeat in 10 games, both against the Old Firm.

Celtic started slowly – efforts over the bar from Kristoffer Ajer and Shane Duffy were as close as they got. But they began to move through the gears the more the first half aged.

Rooney got in sharply to deny Edouard, then the Frenchman’s low cross met Tom Rogic at the back post and Callum Booth had to clear off the line.

Celtic kept coming as St Johnstone struggled to get out of their own half. David Turnbull and Ryan Christie had efforts from outside the box, but goalkeeper Zander Clark remained largely untroubled. Celtic were dominating in every department, but couldn’t break the deadlock before the break.

St Johnstone had not scored at home against Celtic since February 2017, a Dedryk Boyata own goal. But when Duffy misjudged a cross, Craig Conway had a golden chance, but the shot was poor and Scott Bain easily collected it.

However, they made no mistake when another opportunity arrived a minute later. Booth’s cross was perfect for Rooney who outmuscled the Celtic defence and bulleted a header past the goalkeeper.

The home side were checking the history books as they eyed a first win over Celtic since 2016. But just 10 minutes later Christie skipped past Jason Kerr on the right-hand side and laid the ball on the plate for Edouard, who knocked Celtic back on level terms.

And within two minutes they led. Edouard collected Greg Taylor’s ball, spun the defender and goalkeeper, then slotted home.

After that Celtic were the ones being pushed back. Chris Kane had a shot blocked and Glenn Middleton had a left-foot curler deflected wide.

Celtic freshened things up with the introductions of Leigh Griffiths and Mohamed Elyounoussi, but they could not add to their lead.

Man of the match – Ryan Christie

What did we learn?

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson didn’t do a lot wrong. His side defended well in a first 45 minutes where Celtic tried everything to break them. And after weathering that storm they attacked with vigour in the second half.

But two moments of class from Celtic showed what they still have in their locker.

What did they say?

St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson: “It’s a difficult one to take. What I will give my players credit for is they kept working. I’m really disappointed we didn’t take anything from the game.

“We’ve got some big games coming up. In the last eight weeks we’ve only lost to Rangers and Celtic, so we’ll take that positive mindset into them.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon: “The manner of the performance was very good. The reaction was top class and we scored two beautiful goals.

“On a really sticky pitch they looked like a real good football team today.”

What’s next?

Celtic are at home to Aberdeen on Wednesday (18:00 GMT), which is their game in hand over Premiership leaders Rangers. St Johnstone are next in action on Saturday when they are away to Motherwell (15:00).