Their Saturday match was the second time the two clubs met in the course of three days. Celtic won the mid-week tilt 3-2, and decided to pump it up a bit for the SPL battle, blasting the Saints 3-0 to continue to rebound after the loss to Rangers. Niall McGinn grabbed the double, Fraser Forster continue his strong play with the clean sheet, and the Bhoys pulled within a single point of our hated Prottie rivals.
With less than a minute gone, the visitors in Green & White would strike. Georgios Samaras was fouled by a Saints defender, and the Celts were awarded a free kick. Ki's free kick came to the head of Anthony Stokes, but his redirection was stopped. Luckily for us, the rebound came right to the feet of an in tight McGinn, and he easily blasted it home. McGinn then raced behind the goal and lept into the stands where the traveling Celtic fans were eager to celebrate with him. He was booked for the celebration, which was pure rubbish, but it was good stuff. Just 7 minutes later, Ki would rattle a ball off the post, as we all saw St. Johnstone getting nervous on the pitch as they realized how overmatched they were. 4 minutes shy of the halftime whistle, Emilio "Holy Guacamole" Izaguirre intercepted a Saint pass at the top of the box and burst in on goal. He slid the ball under the Johnnies keeper to double the lead. The second half saw more chances for Celtic, and more situations where St. Johnstone looked like they'd start to get some pressure but never quite figured it outt. 1 minute from full time, McGinn would net his second against a man-down Saints side to send the rest of the home fans for the exits.
Surprisingly, this was a game that saw zero subs for Celtic, which may mean a slightly different lineup is in the works for this coming weekend. It's hard not to love Forster in net for the Celts. While he's been beatable by better teams as of late, he just seems to get the job done. Izzy was clearly the most exciting defender in the game, jumping up into the play to get that goal in the later stages of the first half. He's showing what an underrated acquisition he was, and he's making a continued case for keeping his buddy Juarez on the bench. While Niall McGinn was the goal scoring hero from the midfield, I think Ki Sung-Yueng wins my midfielder man of the match award. He seemed to be everywhere on the pitch, including being there to set up some crucial moments. The same goes for Stokes at the front. While our Gorgeous Greek was the one who got fouled to set up our first goal, it was Stokes slashing and dashing an doing all the work on the attack to break the Saints defense. All this, and we had McCourt, Hooiveld, and Mulgrew on the bench, not to mention Maloney getting the axe for some mystery illness just prior to kickoff.
At 9-1-0 (+15 GD, 27 points), Celtic sit in second place in the SPL (-1 on Rangers and +11 on #3 Motherwell). This weekend we face off with #8 Aberdeen (3-6-1, -1 GD, 10 points), and unless the 'Deen can pull themselves together quickly, they don't stand a chance. They are coming off of a 1-2 loss to St. Mirren, and in the last 6 matches with Celtic, Aberdeen are 0-5-1. However, that draw was a 4-4 battle the last time the two teams played back in February. We had goals from Kamara, Fortuné, Keane, and McGeady in that one. Remember those guys? Aberdeen, a squad known as "The Dandies," are supported by fans known as the "Red Army." The Dandies? I feel a Mr. Show reference coming on if Celtic wins ("The Velveteen Touch of a Dandy Fop?").
Rise to the occasion Bhoys! Beat Aberdeen!
-- Sent from my Palm Prē
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