Watch the Sky Sports highlights as Celtic beat St Johnstone 3-1
Soccer Football - Scottish Cup - Fourth Round - Celtic v Buckie Thistle - Celtic Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Britain - January 21, 2024 New Celtic signing Nicolas Kuhn presented to the fans at half time REUTERS/Russell Cheyne
Celtic looked much more like their old selves yesterday as they beat St Johnstone 3-1 to edge into top spot in the SPFL Premiership.
The hoops could easily have matched the 7-1 win in their previous home match against Dundee led by three forward players looking purposeful as they pinned the Saints players back for long spells.
Three ‘goals’ were disallowed, Kyogo Furuhashi rattled the crossbar with two first half efforts cleared off the line gives a truer reflection of the 90 plus minutes than the scoreline.
? Celtic move to the top of the #cinchPrem, having played a game more, after beating St Johnstone 3-1 ?? pic.twitter.com/1wwXvUQWIW
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) March 16, 2024
Finally in the 40th minute Kyogo beat the home defenders and VAR to put Celtic in front, a minute into the second half Man of the Match Nicolas Kuhn popped in the sort of goal that was the trademark of Liel Abada.
James Forrest came off the bench to score is 12th career goal against St Johnstone but the Perth side pulled a goal back as Celtic went through a few changes that saw Tomoki Iwata briefly move into defence.
Alistair Johnston did find the net in the 82nd minute, after a lengthy review his effort was disallowed with no VAR lines offered as evidence by Celtic TV despite seven minutes of stoppage time being played.