A valiant St Mirren display saw Jim Goodwin's severely depleted side take a point against Celtic. 

Despite missing several players and requesting a postponement from the SPFL, the match went ahead. Saints were without Jak Alnwick, Jamie McGrath, Conor McCarthy, Richard Tait, Connor Ronan, Ethan Erhahon, Alan Power, Ryan Flynn, Kyle McAllister, Kristian Dennis, Lee Erwin and Eamonn Brophy.

17-year-old Kieran Offord made his debut, while 16-year-old Dylan Reid made just his third start for the Buddies. Jay Henderson also made his first appearance since August with Dean Lyness coming in as goalkeeper for his first league appearance since February. 

St Mirren Academy Graduate Kieran Offord made his first-team debut (Image: Allan Picken)

Lyness would probably have been expecting a busy evening against Ange Postecoglou's side and so it would prove to be for the Saints goalie in the opening stages of the match. He made a terrific save to deny Michael Johnston on eight minutes after the Celtic winger evaded a number of challenges as he jinked into the Buddies box. His strike was pushed away by the strong hands of Lyness. 

Four minutes later Lyness brilliantly turned away a long-range Nir Bitton free-kick. The Celtic midfielder fired towards the keeper's right-hand post with the stand-in at full stretch to get a hand on it.

Saints grew in confidence as the half worn on. The Buddies couldn't force home through a ruck of bodies and from the resultant corner Charles Dunne skinned Liel Abada and Tom Rogic before slamming into the side net. 

Celtic had the vast majority of the ball in the second-half but weren't really troubling Lyness in the Saints net. The visitors were restricted to Johnston volleying into the arms of the Saints goalkeeper on 48 minutes while Callum McGregor's curling effort for distance was gathered at the second attempt on 65 minutes. 

Joe Shaughnessy had to clear off the line on 68 minutes, but Saints best chance of the game came less than 60 seconds later on the counter. Henderson broke forward and slipped the ball to Curtis Main who fired low into the arms of Celtic goalkeeper Scott Bain. 

The visitors would go close again with Abada failing to get on to a McGregor ball across the box before substitute Josip Juranovic curled a free-kick just wide. But the Buddies held on to take a share of the spoils heading into Christmas. 

Full-Time: St Mirren 0-0 Celtic

St Mirren: Lyness, Fraser, Shaughnessy (c), Dunne, Millar, Henderson, Reid, Kiltie, Tanser, Offord (McManus 88), Main
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Taylor, Jack, MacDonald, Kenny

Celtic: Bain, Ralston, Welsh, Carter-Vickers, Scales (Taylor 89), Bitton (Shaw 80), McGregor (c), Johnston, Rogic, Moffat (Juranovic 61), Abada
Subs Not Used: Hazard, McCarthy, Henderson, Montgomery

Referee: David Munro
Assistant Referee: Ralph Gordon
Assistant Referee: Jonathan Bell
Fourth Official: Lloyd Wilson

Attendance: 6,596

The SPFL have announced that the 29th December and 2nd/3rd January cinch Premiership fixture rounds have been postponed to 17th/18th January and 1st/2nd February respectively. The Boxing Day cinch Premiership fixtures will go ahead as planned.

St Mirren were due to face Dundee United at Tannadice on Wednesday 29th December before beginning the year at home to Motherwell on Sunday 2nd January. These fixtures will now take place on Tuesday 18th January and Tuesday 1st February respectively. 

Ticketing arrangements for these matches will be available in due course. 

Dundee United v St Mirren
cinch Premiership
Venue: Tannadice Park
Date: Tuesday 18th January 2022
Kick-Off: 7:45pm 

St Mirren v Motherwell
cinch Premiership
Venue: The SMiSA Stadium
Date: Tuesday 1st February 2022
Kick-Off: 7:45pm 

Tonight's match against Celtic will go ahead.

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that it has requested postponements of our upcoming cinch Premiership matches against Celtic and Rangers following further positive covid tests.

We have tried our utmost to fulfil the fixture, however, following further positive covid cases this morning we are unable to field a team for either match with a significant number of first-team players and staff unavailable.

The health and wellbeing of our players and staff remains our utmost priority and we will continue to take every precaution necessary. 

We are in continued discussions with the SPFL and we will keep supporters updated as we look for a resolution to this matter.

St Mirren are in midweek action as we face Celtic on Wednesday night in our final home match of 2021.

Saints sit in ninth place in the cinch Premiership and have drawn their last three home matches against Livingston (1-1), Ross County (0-0) and Hibernian (1-1). 

Celtic come into the match on the back of winning the Premier Sports Cup after the Glasgow side defeated Hibernian 2-1 at Hampden on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou's side have won their last six cinch Premiership matches and are in second place - seven points off league leaders Rangers. 

Match Details

St Mirren v Celtic
Competition: cinch Premiership
Date: Wednesday 22nd December 2021
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: The SMiSA Stadium

Ticket Info

Tickets for Wednesday's match are on-sale to registered home supporters at the St Mirren Ticket Office and online. Vaccine certification is not required.

The match will be live on St Mirren PPV at a cost of £14.99. As the game is on a midweek night, PPV will be available in England. 

Frank McGarvey will be the St Mirren TV guest on Wednesday night.

Previous

The two sides have faced three times in 2021 with Saints having won one and lost the other two. 

The Buddies won the first encounter between the two sides - winning 2-1 at Celtic Park back in January. Kristian Dennis and Ilkay Durmus scored to give us our first win at Celtic Park in over 30 years. Celtic would defeat Saints 4-0 at the SMiSA Stadium a few weeks later.

The only meeting in the 2021/22 season was in August with Celtic winning 6-0 at Celtic Park. 

The team celebrate after Ilkay Durmus scored the winner at Celtic Park in January (Image: Jeff Holmes)

The officials

David Munro is the man in the middle on Wednesday night. The linesmen are Ralph Gordon and Jonathan Bell with Lloyd Wilson the fourth official.

St Mirren Football Club has been in dialogue with Aberdeen Football Club regarding reported incidents of supporter disturbance at Pittodrie earlier this month.

Aberdeen Football Club have informed us that they have completed a comprehensive investigation into the alleged incidents during this match. There has been an acceptance that there are learnings on both sides, with Aberdeen striving to make Pittodrie a safe and welcoming environment for all attending on matchdays.

They are continuing to work together with Police Scotland on the outcomes of the investigation and will take appropriate action if anyone is found guilty of unacceptable conduct on matchdays at Pittodrie.

We can confirm the opening hours of the stadium and ticket office for the festive period.

Monday 20th Dec: 10am-3pm
Tuesday 21st Dec: 10am-3pm
Wednesday 22nd Dec: 10am-2pm and 5pm-7:45pm (St Mirren v Celtic)
Thursday 23rd Dec: CLOSED
Friday 24th Dec: CLOSED
Saturday 25th Dec: CLOSED
Sunday 26th Dec: CLOSED (Rangers v St Mirren)

Monday 27th Dec: CLOSED
Tuesday 28th Dec: 10am-2pm
Wednesday 29th Dec: 10am-2pm 
Thursday 30th Dec: 10am-2pm 
Friday 31st Dec: 10am-1pm
Saturday 1st Jan: CLOSED
Sunday 2nd Jan: CLOSED

Jan 3rd-Jan 9th: CLOSED

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com

St Mirren Football Club was saddened to hear of the recent passing of ex-kitman Jimmy Munro at the age of 81.

Jimmy was a Paisley Buddie born and bred – attending St Mirren matches from the age of five including the 1959 Scottish Cup final win.

In the 1990s, Jimmy was given a chance to work at his beloved Saints where he would spend almost 12 years as kitman before retiring.

In his time at the club, Jimmy was involved in our Millennium Championship winning season as well as our double winning season in 2005/06 as we won the First Division and Challenge Cup.

St Mirren Chief Executive Tony Fitzpatrick said: "I worked with Jimmy briefly during my second spell as manager and he was a really good man. On behalf of everyone at the club, I pass on my condolences to Jimmy’s family and friends at this sad time."

Jimmy’s funeral will take place on Tuesday 21st December at Woodside Crematorium at 2:30pm.  

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that following recent lateral flow testing we have unfortunately received a number of positive COVID-19 cases.

In line with Government guidelines, those affected have now taken PCR tests and will self-isolate for 10 days. 

Training has been suspended, but as it stands our upcoming matches will still go ahead. We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming days.

The health and wellbeing of our players and staff remains our utmost priority. 

St Mirren Football Club will make no further comment at this time. 

Tickets for our Boxing Day trip to Ibrox are now on-sale at the St Mirren Ticket Office. 

Rangers vs St Mirren
cinch Premiership
Venue: Ibrox
Date: Sunday 26th December 2021
Kick-off: 3pm

The ticket prices as follows:

*Over-65 and 16/17-year-olds.

Wheelchair disabled - adult £22, concession £11 and juniors £11 with carer free of charge.

Ambulant disabled supporters pay the age appropriate price. If a carer is required, the carer ticket is free of charge.

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours for the rest of the week are as follows:

Tue, 14th Dec - 10:00am to 1:00pm
Wed, 15th Dec - 10:00am to 2:00pm
Thu, 16th Dec - 10:00am to 2:00pm
Fri, 17th Dec - 10:00am to 2:00pm
Sat, 18th Dec - CLOSED
Sun, 19th Dec - CLOSED

St Mirren Ticket Office Tel: (0141) 840-6130.

St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com