St Mirren 0-1 Celtic: Sake Cures Hangovers

By: JT | February 25th, 2008

It would have been folly to think that yesterday’s match at Love Street was going to be anything but a slog.

And how can you blame the players?

Four days before, they were taking on Barcelona at a vibrating Celtic Park in an up-and-down thriller against one of the top club sides in the world.

With just enough time to digest their performance against Barca, recover physically and psychologically, they had to travel and face a St Mirren side sitting tenth in the table, 30+ points below Celtic.

The performance was what you might expect considering the circumstances. Days like these call for superior goalkeeping, and that’s exactly what the Bhoys got from Artur Boruc, who was the true Man of the Match, though the headlines will all go to Shunsuke Nakamura, whose brilliant free kick won the match in the 87th minute.

WGS had some changes in store for the First XI after their midweek exertions. Naka was dropped to the bench, and considering his lethargy against Barcelona and the rapid emergence of Barry Robson, it wasn’t an enormous surprise.

Robson and Massimo Donati manned the middle, with Scott Brown on the right and Aiden McGeady on the left, though movement among the positions during the match is now commonplace considering the versatility Celtic possess in the department.

Up front, Georgios Samaras got his first start in the Hoops, with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink injured. He partnered the ever-present Australian Scott McDonald.

Samaras looked the danger man early on, as Celtic built pressure on a goal that the Buddies clearly were prepared to defend stoutly. The Bhoys pressed but could not break through, and St Mirren’s confidence grew as the fist half progressed.

Celtic came out aggressively in the second half, but the Buddies were having none of it. They knew that on the heels of a big European match, Celtic were ripe for the picking.

Stephen McManus went off with a hamstring tweak in the 53rd minute, and is day-to-day. Young Irish international Darren O’Dea came on in his stead, and looked solid. He’ll likely keep his place when Inverness Caledonian Thistle come calling on Wednesday. We’ll see how the rearguard reacts to a match without their leader and captain, but with Boruc behind them, my guess is that they’ll be just fine.

Almost immediately after, McGeady was booked for dissent after enduring the latest installment of butchery being meted out by the Buddies midfield and defense.

Really, refs need to protect the guy more. Just because a player is quicker and more technically gifted than others doesn’t mean the opposition gets to chop legs at every opportunity.

I’m not asking for special privileges or anything like that, but the ref needs to open his eyes a bit more when it comes to McGeady, that’s all I’m saying. And the victim gets the yellow card to boot. Stupid.

The rest of the second half was a back-and-forth with Boruc keeping Celtic in the match on one end, and the Bhoys coming oh so close on the other.

The decisive moment came in the 87th minute. Naka, who came on for Robson in the 64th minute, was fouled just outside the box, much to the consternation of Buddies fans everywhere. To me, it looked a clear foul. Whether you think Naka was playing for the foul or not, it makes the refs call much easier when a defender is wrapped around his leg.

Naka immediately set the ball up, and an air of inevitability seemingly filled the ground. This is what ensured:

That’s what quality brings you. You can sleepwalk through a match against an inferior opponent and still get by with stroke of genius from a truly gifted player.

Yeah, its living a bit dangerously at this late stage of the campaign. But three points are three points, and I look for Celtic to get back to their dominant ways after a few more days of R&R.