In Perth, Celtic rallied from behind to defeat St Johnstone 3-1, despite a scare during stoppage time.
For the second consecutive weekend, Celtic’s inability to handle an inswinging corner resulted to Diallang Jaiyesimi’s opening goal for St Johnstone at halftime. Motherwell scored a late equalizer at Parkhead from the same source.
As the Celtics took their time to recover, Craig Levein once more raised the possibility of orchestrating Brendan Rodgers’ first league loss as manager of the team. In December 2017, Levein was Hearts’ manager when the Jambos interrupted Aaron Rodgers’ 69-game domestic winning streak to begin his first Celtic era.
However, Callum McGregor scored with a forceful shot in the 67th minute, and 11 minutes later, Matt O’Riley finished masterfully from 22 yards for his seventh game-winning Premiership goal of the season.
However, the decision ultimately depended on two episodes that happened later. After Tomoki Iwata of Saints squared the ball for fellow substitute James Forrest to head home, Celtic broke just seconds later. Jay Turner-Cooke of Saints had headed off the post from seven yards out.
Celtic had appeared poised to dominate the first half and easily defeat Saints. Within the opening six minutes, Kyogo Furuhashi and O’Riley missed good opportunities to score from the penalty box.
On his third Saints appearance, center-forward Jaiyesimi held off Liam Scales and forced Joe Hart to save, but Celtic persisted in pressing.
David Turnbull saw a goal disallowed after a clear offside against Yang Hyun-jun and the former Motherwell midfielder was soon denied by a brilliant diving stop from Dimitar Mitov after turning on to his left foot on the edge of the box. Saints grew into the game and put Celtic under a bit more pressure in the final third before taking advantage of Graham Carey’s inswinging corner. O’Riley could only knock the initial contact back towards goal and, after several players competed for the ball on the line, the midfielder’s next attempted clearance bounced off Jaiyesimi and spun in.
Hart called for a foul, but referee Don Robertson saw none, and video assistant referee Kevin Clancy supported Robertson’s assessment.
At the break, Mikey Johnston replaced Yang, but not before Cameron Carter-Vickers gave Celtic another scare with a careless touch in his box. Carey’s initial attempt found the side net.
McGregor found Furuhashi with a through pass to start the Saints defense, but Mitov was out fast to stop the striker from Japan from scoring.
Oh Hyeon-gyu came on for Turnbull and the South Korean striker played a key role in the equaliser nine minutes later.
Oh controlled Johnston’s low cross at the near post and backheeled the ball across the face of goal. Mitov palmed it out and James Brown’s clearing header fell invitingly for McGregor, who drilled home first time from 16 yards.
McGregor had a long-range effort saved before Celtic went in front after taking advantage of a rare chance to catch St Johnstone on the back foot after winning the ball following a home throw. Furuhashi laid the ball off to O’Riley, who took a touch and smashed a shot with his weaker, right foot high into the net from 22 yards.
Forrest replaced the injured the injured Luis Palma and quickly forced a good parry from Mitov before having the final say.