10-man St Mirren were beaten 3-0 by Celtic in our first match of 2024.
Two goals in the opening six minutes from Daizen Maeda and Matt O'Riley had Celtic 2-0 up and Saints' afternoon was made a lot tougher when a VAR intervention saw Toyosi Olusanya sent off for a foul on Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart. Greg Taylor then added a third for the visitors as they left Paisley with the points.
There were three changes to the Saints side that defeated Aberdeen 3-0 on Saturday. Keanu Baccus dropped out after joining up with Australia for their Asian Cup campaign, while Mark O'Hara missed the game after picking up a thigh injury on Saturday. Lewis Jamieson was also benched with the trio replaced by Ryan Flynn, Caolan Boyd-Munce and Olusanya.
Saints got off to the worst possible start when Maeda put the hosts ahead within the first minute. O'Riley's low pass found Maeda who has got in front of Scott Tanser and managed to slot beyond Zach Hemming. That poor start was compounded five minutes later when O'Riley turned from provider to goalscorer to double Celtic's lead. Bernardo picked up the ball from Luis Palma and spun well to get away from Alex Gogic and tee up O'Riley who took a touch before finishing low through the legs of the goalkeeper.
It was an uphill task but Saints looked to find a way back into the match with Olusanya looking lively. He managed to get in behind Celtic's centre-half pairing of Liam Scales and Maik Nawrocki on 13 minutes but he lashed his effort well wide under pressure from the latter defender.
Nawrocki missed a big opportunity to extend Celtic's lead shortly before the half hour mark when he didn't get the right connection on a header after being found unmarked in the Saints box. Kyogo Furuhashi flicked on Palma's free-kick for the Hoops defender but he only got the slightest of touches as he glanced wide of the far post.
Saints were dealt a huge blow when Olusanya was shown a red card following a VAR check as the game was reaching its interval. The Buddies forward made an honest attempt to reach a cross but caught Celtic number one Hart late and was booked by referee David Munro. But the VAR, Steven McLean, advised the referee to check the monitor and he subsequently withdrew the yellow card and showed Olusanya a straight red to reduce Saints to 10 men.
A VAR intervention saw Toyosi Olusanya sent off and Saints reduced to 10 men (Image: Vagelis Georgariou)
The Buddies were trying their best to make a game of it after the restart despite the disadvantage. Greg Kiltie went on a marauding run into the Celtic half on 58 minutes and worked his way into the box but saw his shot blocked. But in truth it was the visitors who looked more likely and they came close to furthering their lead a minute later only for O'Riley to be thwarted by a terrific save from Hemming who touched over the bar. Celtic would add a third soon after when Greg Taylor got on to a Bernardo ball over the top and volleyed into the net on the hour mark.
Elvis Bwomono was handed a St Mirren debut when he replaced Ryan Flynn on 65 minutes. He was part of a double substitution that saw Jonah Ayunga also come on in place of Mikael Mandron.
Furuhashi missed a big chance to add a fourth for Celtic as the game reached its final 20 minutes and that would be his last action as he was replaced by Hyeongyu Oh on 71 minutes. Another Celtic substitute - Liel Abada - came close to adding his name to the scoresheet 10 minutes after his introduction, but he was denied by a brilliant stop from Hemming. The Saints number one then made a good double save four minutes later to deny Oh and Hyunjun Yang from adding to Celtic's tally.
Full-Time: St Mirren 0-3 Celtic
St Mirren: Hemming, Bolton, Gogic, Taylor, Fraser, Flynn (Bwomono 65), Boyd-Munce (Greive 77), Kiltie, Tanser, Olusanya, Mandron (Ayunga 65)
Subs Not Used: Urminsky, Dunne, Small, McMenamin, Jamieson, Nahmani
Celtic: Hart, A.Johnston, Nawrocki (Lagerbielke 63), Scales, Taylor, O'Riley, McGregor, Bernardo (Hatate 71), Maeda (Abada 63), Furuhashi (Oh 71), Palma (Yang 55)
Subs Not Used: Bain, Ralston, Turnbull, M.Johnston
Referee: David Munro
Assistant Referee: Alan Mulvanny
Assistant Referee: Craig Ferguson
Fourth Official: Craig Napier
VAR: Steven McLean
Attendance: 6,943
