Celtic turned in another roller-coaster performance to beat St Johnstone 4-2 at McDermid Park to go to the top of the Premiership.
There was plenty of similarities to the 5-2 win over Hapoel Beer Sheva in midweek as the hoops raced into a three goal half time lead then chucked away two goals in quick succession.
Mikael Lustig and Callum McGregor dropped out of the starting XI with their substitutes against Hapoel, Saidy Janko and Nir Bitton earning starting slots.
After a lively start in which their pace troubled the home side Celtic took the lead in the 28th minute through birthday boy Leigh Griffiths.
A promising move down the right seemed to have ran out of momentum but a fierce cross from the left delivered by Kieran Tierney broke to Griffiths who shot high into the net with the help of a deflection.
GOAL: Griffiths takes his chance to make it 1 – 0 @celticfc against @St_Johnstone_FC. pic.twitter.com/hLNz7O5uVm
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) August 20, 2016
Five minutes from the break Scott Sinclair doubled Celtic’s lead from 15 yards out, steering the ball into the net after efforts from Forrest and Griffiths had been blocked.
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GOAL: Sinclair pounces on the rebound to make it 2 – 0 to @celticfc against @St_Johnstone_FC pic.twitter.com/HWy45RpVKW
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) August 20, 2016
In the final minute of the first half James Forrest scored the best goal of the afternoon, racing 40 yards before sending a great shot with the outside of his right foot past Alan Mannus in the home goal.
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GOAL: Brilliant finish from Forrest after his fantastic solo run makes it 3 – 0 for @celticfc pic.twitter.com/YvF98NTNuj
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) August 20, 2016
It all looked like the perfect build up to Tuesday’s match in Israel but there was some evidence of sloppy passing across the back by the Celtic defenders.
Seven minutes from the end substitute Liam Henderson tripped a Saints striker in the box allowing Danny Swanson to pull a goal back from the penalty spot.
In the 89th minute Steven McLean took advantage of hesitancy in the Celtic box to squeeze a shot past Craig Gordon from inside the six yard box with fourth official Andrew Dallas indicating that there was three additional minutes to be played.
Any thoughts of a dramatic equaliser were killed off in stoppage time when Ryan Christie shot home from 15 yards out to seal full points for the visitors.
GOAL: A sharp bit of play by Christie makes it 4 – 2 to @celticfc against @St_Johnstone_FC pic.twitter.com/d3hpBAgx5T
— Scottish Sun Sport (@scotsunsport) August 20, 2016