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

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

 

Odsonne Edouard's two goals in two minutes rescued Celtic who came from behind at St Johnstone to make it four Scottish Premiership wins in a row.

Shaun Rooney's bullet header gave Saints a shock lead, putting the hosts on course for their first win over the Glasgow side in nearly five years.

Edouard's intervention 10 minutes later saved Celtic, who are 18 points behind leaders Rangers with a game in hand.

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

Reaction & as it happened
Celtic, whose game in hand is against Aberdeen on Wednesday, started slowly in Perth.

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 progressed.

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 half time.

St Johnstone had not scored at home against Celtic since February 2017 - a Dedryk Boyata own goal. When Duffy misjudged a cross, Craig Conway had a golden chance to end that barren run 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 a plate for Edouard, who put Celtic back on level terms.

Within two minutes they led, Edouard collecting Greg Taylor's ball, spinning the defender and goalkeeper, then slotting 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 introduction of Leigh Griffiths and Mohamed Elyounoussi, but they could not add to their lead.

Man of the match - Ryan Christie
Ryan Christie and Callum Booth
Ryan Christie was pivotal in both goals as Celtic finally found a way to unlock the St Johnstone defence
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 'disappointed' not to claim something - Callum Davidson
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."