St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson reacts to Parkhead defeat and ‘quality’ Celtic moments

Celtic comfortably disposed of St Mirren at Parkhead yesterday, recording a 3-0 victory to maintain an advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

Stephen Robinson’s outfit were difficult to break down in the first half, and the Bhoys went in at the interval without registering a single shot on target [BBC Sport].

Not long after the second 45 commenced, Celtic took the lead courtesy of Reo Hatate, who steadied himself before guiding past Zach Hemming with the outside of his foot to grant the hosts the lead.

After an hour, Kyogo Furuhashi followed up, latching on to an Alistair Johnston cross with a bullet header to double our advantage.

Four minutes before normal time ended, Republic of Ireland international Adam Idah added a third, showing strength to dispossess Alex Gogic in the build-up. He then nodded over Hemming in the wake of a scramble in the box.

Under the pressure of knowing any dropped points at this stage would be detrimental to our title-winning chances, Celtic exhibited composure to stick to their guns, claiming another priceless victory.

Five wins in our post-split Scottish Premiership matches will now be enough for Brendan Rodgers and company to bring a third successive league trophy back to Parkhead.

St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson reacts to Celtic defeat

Speaking post-match, St Mirren boss Robinson was disappointed in his side’s second-half collapse; nevertheless, he acknowledged that Celtic’s ‘quality’ moments were worthy of three points on the day.

He stated [Sky Sports]: “Credit to Celtic, the first goal is a super finish. Kyogo’s movement for the second goal is an incredible bit of movement, and that’s the levels you’re playing against.”

Robinson later added: “Ultimately, we got punished for two real bits of quality.

“I’ve had plenty of people saying you played really well first half, you comPeted really well, but ultimately we haven’t been getting results out of it. That’s the level you’re coming up against, the size of the Football club you’re playing against.

“You see the amount of changes they make, the six changes they make are playing for every other club in the Premiership, so it’s the levels you come up against, you get punished easier for mistakes. The first goal, the pass, probably doesn’t get played by anybody else.”

Celtic saw off a credible St Mirren outfit yesterday

On the face of it, St Mirren are out of form, having won just one of their last six matches; however, they have managed to secure a top-six finish, continuing their upward trajectory under Robinson.

Most Celtic fans know from experience that they can be a difficult outfit to play against, though we secured a fairly comfortable passage to victory on home soil, all told.

Now, all attention at Parkhead will turn to our upcoming Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen next weekend, which has major ramifications for Rodgers’ domestic double bid.

Related Topics