Celtic 4 – 0 St Mirren

January 18, 2023 admin

Kyogo Furuhashi netted twice along with goals from Liel Abada and David Turnbull as Celtic eased to a 4-0 victory over St Mirren.

Abada opened the scoring in the 15th minute by volleying home ruthlessly from a corner before Furuhashi brilliantly lobbed goalkeeper Trevor Carson.

The striker then bagged his second shortly after half-time with a close-range tap-in to dispel any hopes of a St Mirren comeback.

The visitors, who are the only team to beat Celtic this season, did hit the crossbar through Declan Gallagher, but Turnbull added the gloss for Ange Postecoglou’s side late on with a piledriver from 30 yards that found the bottom corner.

How Celtic eased past St Mirren

Celtic were sent an early warning when Curtis Main poked the ball past Joe Hart, but saw his effort narrowly ruled out for offside.

Team news:

Ange Postecoglou confirmed Cameron Carter-Vickers and the sought-after Giorgos Giakoumakis’ absence because they were “a bit sore” from the weekend’s game.
Yuki Kobayashi made his debut as Alistair Johnston, Matthew O’Riley and Liel Abada also came in. Alexandro Bernabei, Aaron Mooy and Daizen Maeda dropped out.
Ethan Erhahon and centre-half Charles Dunne returned back from suspension and started for St Mirrent. Wide men Ryan Strain and Jonah Ayunga also came back into the team.
Ryan Flynn, Richard Taylor and Alex Greive dropped to the bench. Mark O’Hara missed out altogether after limping off against Hearts.

Just minutes later the hosts took the lead following chaos in the St Mirren area. Carl Starfelt saw his shot at a corner kept out by Trevor Carson with the rebound falling to Yuki Kobayashi, whose follow-up hit the left post before Abada volleyed the third attempt into the top corner.

Celtic controlled the half from there, seeing Furuhashi add a second, perfectly lobbing Carson from close range after latching on to Reo Hatate’s defence-splitting pass.

Kyogo made sure any hopes of a St Mirren comeback were dashed within eight minutes of the second half. Jota delivered a pinpoint, low cross which the striker met first time with the VAR awarding the goal after offside was initially given.

The visitors nearly pulled one back when Declan Gallagher’s firm header from Ryan Strain’s right-wing cross hit the top of the crossbar.

Celtic, though, were denied a fourth when this time the offside flag correctly ruled out James Forrest’s tap in from Furuhashi’s square pass with the striker offside as he raced in behind to latch on to Jota’s pass.

However, there was no denying Turnbull’s late stunner as he found the bottom corner from 30 yards with a powerful drive.