St Mirren were handed just a third league defeat in 2020 as the Buddies were beaten 5-0 by league leaders Celtic. 

Leigh Griffiths scored twice in the first-half to have the Hoops in control at the break. Odsonne Edouard added a third for Celtic nine minutes into the second-half before Griffiths nabbed his hat-trick with 16 minutes remaining. Callum McGregor rounded off a poor afternoon for Saints when he netted from the penalty spot in the final minute.

Jim Goodwin made three changes to the side the drew 0-0 with St Johnstone on Wednesday night. Cammy MacPherson, Tony Andreu and Junior Morias were brought in in place of Ross Wallace, Ilkay Durmus and Alex Jakubiak.

Celtic enjoyed the lions share of possession as was probably to be expected but Saints looked to make any opportunities count in the early goings. With eight minutes played Calum Waters did brilliantly down the left-side before sliding the ball across the box. It had looked primed to fall to the feet of Morias, but somehow missed the forward who would have had a brilliant chance to put the Buddies 1-0 in front had it fallen to him. 

MacPherson forced Fraser Forster into a save on 14 minutes with a free-kick from 25 yards. The midfielder got the ball over the wall and creeping in towards the goalkeeper's left-hand post but the Englishman was down quickly to gather. 

Four minutes later Celtic would open the scoring through Griffiths. From just inside the box on the left-hand side, Edouard clipped the ball over the Saints defence to meet Leigh Griffiths who swept home from close range. It was a cheap goal to give away with the Celtic forward completely unmarked at the back post as he put the home side ahead.

The Hoops could have doubled their lead just two minutes later with Vaclav Hladky making a tremendous double save to keep Edouard and James Forrest at bay. Hladky was being made to work by Celtic and the Czech goalkeeper again denied Forrest on 27 minutes, holding the winger's curling shot from the edge of the area.

Saints were still very much in the match at this point, thanks to Hladky, and more good work from Waters saw the left-back knock the ball beyond Forrest allowing him to charge into the penalty area only for his ball across to be cleared by the Celtic defence. A few minutes later, Tony Andreu had a dig from 20 yards but his effort was easy enough for Forster to hold.

Hladky again kept Celtic out when he got two hands to a Tom Rogic strike from 18 yards.  

With the game ebbing towards half-time Griffiths added his and Celtic's second on 44 minutes. The forward dribbled his way through the Saints defence, exchanging a one-two with Rogic before sliding the ball beyond Hladky to double his and Celtic's tally.

Celtic stretched their lead further just nine minutes into the second-half when Edouard added his name to the score-sheet. 

St Mirren looked to pull a goal back with Andreu curling into the arms of Forster on 56 minutes, while Obika sent an effort just wide seven minutes later. 

But with 16 minutes remaining it was Celtic who would stretch their lead further. Griffiths grabbed his hat-trick as he slammed home from the edge of the box.

Celtic put the icing on the cake in the final minute when Callum McGregor netted from the penalty spot after Sam Foley had brought down Hatem Elhamed. 

Up next for Saints is a vital home match as the Buddies face bottom side Hearts at the Simple Digital Arena on Wednesday night.

Full-Time: Celtic 5-0 St Mirren

St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Foley, Famewo, Waters, MacPherson, McGrath (McAllister 74), Andreu, Morias (Jakubiak 63), Obika (Chabbi 69)
Subs Not Used: Lyness, Wallace, Durmus, Mullen

Celtic: Forster, Jullien, Bitton, Ajer (Elhamed 81), Forrest, Brown (c), Rogic (Christie 73), McGregor, Taylor, Edouard (Elyounoussi 76), Griffiths
Subs Not Used: Gordon, Frimpong, Hayes, Bayo

Referee: Gavin Duncan
Assistant Referee: Frank Connor
Assistant Referee: Calum Spence
Fourth Official: Euan Anderson

Attendance: 58,998

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

St Mirren head to Celtic Park on Saturday to face the league leaders in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

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St Mirren - DLWLDD

Celtic - DWLWDW

St Mirren cut the gap on ninth placed Ross County to three points after a 0-0 draw with St Johnstone on Wednesday night.  

The Buddies have only lost two of their last eight league matches since last facing Celtic. There have been two wins against Kilmarnock (1-0) and Motherwell (2-1), draws with Aberdeen (0-0), Hibernian (2-2), Hamilton (1-1) and St Johnstone (0-0), while the two defeats have come against Rangers (0-1) and Livingston (1-2).

Neil Lennon's side currently sit atop of the Ladbrokes Premiership - 13 points clear of second-place Rangers as they search for nine league titles in a row. 

The Hoops dropped their first league points off 2020 on Wednesday night when they drew 2-2 at Livingston. Tom Rogic's injury time equaliser snatched a late point to avoid defeat. 

Celtic's last league defeat came at the end of 2019 when Neil Lennon's side were beaten 2-1 by Rangers at Celtic Park.

PREVIOUS

Tomorrow's match will be the third and final meeting of the two sides this season.

Celtic have come out on top in the previous two fixtures this season winning 2-0 at Celtic Park in October and despite Cammy MacPherson pulling a late goal back when the sides met on Boxing Day at the Simple Digital Arena, Celtic won 2-1. 

St Mirren haven't beaten Celtic since the 2013 League Cup semi-final where goals from Esmael Goncalves, Paul McGowan and Steven Thompson gave Saints a 3-2 victory and a place in the final. 

The Buddies last league win over Celtic came 10 years ago when doubles from Andy Dorman and Steven Thomson saw Saints defeat Celtic 4-0 at the Simple Digital Arena. 

Our last win at Celtic Park was almost 30 years ago when Saints, managed by Tony Fitzpatrick, defeated Celtic 3-0 thanks to goals from Guni Torfason, Geordie Shaw and Paul Lambert. 

TEAM NEWS

Gary MacKenzie, Kyle Magennis, Stephen McGinn and Ryan Flynn all remain out for the Buddies.

Kyle McAllister should be available despite a knock on Wednesday night.

MANAGER'S THOUGHTS

"You'll always get opportunities and the important thing is that when those opportunities come along that we are clinical and take them.

"Teams have gone there in the past and got shock results and we have to believe that we are capable of doing the same tomorrow.

"We need to believe. If we can take away a point then fantastic, if we can take away all three then that would be out of this world really.

"The fact of the matter is they have only lost one league game at Celtic Park all season so we are well aware of how difficult it is going to be."

Tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 7th March), St Mirren make the short trip along the M8 to Glasgow face Celtic at Celtic Park.

The info on Travel Clubs heading to Celtic Park for the match is as follows:

Tile Bar Supporters Bus

We will leave at 1:45pm for Celtic Park.

Bus seat tickets on sale from the bar, £5 each.

Chivas Travel Club

The bus for the Celtic game will leave the Court Bar at 1:45pm.

Bus seat tickets available from the Court Bar.

Cockles Wilson Supporters Bus

Our bus leaves at 2:00pm from Central Way.

You can book a seat by contacting Fraser Burns on 07788 291 571 or our supporters club pages on Facebook or twitter.

North End Travel Club

We are not running a bus to this match.

* - Under 13s attending the match must be accompanied by an adult.

Regular prices for wheelchair/ambulant disabled with free carer.

Please note that there will be no tickets available at Celtic Park prior to kick-off. Tickets will be available at the St Mirren Ticket Office up until 2:00pm today (Friday 6th March).

The St Mirren Ticket Office opening hours in the build up to this match are as follows:

Fri, 6th Mar: 10:00am to 2:00pm
Sat, 7th Mar: CLOSED

Ticket Office Phone No: (0141) 840-6130
St Mirren Ticket Office E-Mail: tickets@stmirren.com

Additional Information for Travelling Fans

On Saturday (7th March), St Mirren make the short trip to the east end of Glasgow to face Celtic in a Ladbrokes Premiership match-up at Celtic Park.

The referee on Saturday is Gavin Duncan and he will be assisted by Frank Connor and Calum Spence. The Fourth Official will be Euan Anderson.

St Mirren picked up what could be a crucial point after a 0-0 draw with 10 man St Johnstone at the Simple Digital Arena.

The Buddies will be frustrated they didn't pick up all three points in the battle of the Saints, especially with Hamilton Academical and Hearts both picking up midweek wins.

Alex Jakubiak caused the St Johnstone defence trouble in the opening 15 minutes. His first was a shot from outside the box. The striker then went on two driving runs, wining corners on both occasions.

The hosts very nearly came close to opening the scoring when Jon Obika clipped the inside of Zander Clark’s post and trickling along the goal line but there were no black and white shirts to tap it in.

The first chance of the second half fell the way of the visitors. Anthony Ralston broke forward and received the ball inside the Buddies’ box but Hladky was there to make the save. Jakubiak had another chance to break the deadlock. He twisted and turned his way into the St Johnstone box bit is shot was straight at the keeper.

The game sparked into life for the last 15 minutes. Drey Wright played an inviting ball into the box but Lee Hodson was there to put the ball out for a corner. Jason Kerr hit the crossbar from the resulting corner.

St Johnstone then went down to ten men as Liam Craig was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Tony Andreu.

Jamie McGrath delivered a good cross from a wide area and substitute, Seifedin Chabbi, saw his header go agonisingly past the post.

Jon Obika had a terrific chance to grab a late winner. He held the ball up strongly in the box before turning and getting a shot away but Clark had to dive low to his left hand side to tip it round the post.

The Buddies threw everything they had at St Johnstone for the entire five minutes of stoppage time but the Buddies were unable to find a way through the wall of defenders. 

Full-Time: St Mirren 0-0 St Johnstone

St Mirren: Hladky, Hodson, McCarthy, Famewo, Waters, McGrath, Foley (c), Wallace (Chabbi 84), Durmus (Morias 75), Jakubiak (Andreu 67), Obika
Subs Not Used: Lyness, MacPherson, McAllister, Mullen

St Johnstone: Clark, Ralston, Kerr (c), McCart, Booth, Wright, McCann, Craig, Wotherspoon (O'Halloran 65), Kane (Butcher 83), May (Swanson 75)
Subs Not Used: Parish, Gordon, Holt, Tanser 

Referee: Euan Anderson
Assistant Referee: Drew Kirkland
Assistant Referee: Gordon Crawfored
Fourth Official: Steven Reid

Attendance: 4,287

Gallery pictures by Allan Picken © - Allan Picken Photography

Jim Goodwin admits tonight's 0-0 draw with St Johnstone was frustrating after creating a number of chances but being unable to make the breakthrough.

It's another midweek of football for St Mirren as the Buddies get set to host St Johnstone at the Simple Digital Arena this evening.

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St Mirren - LWLDDD

St Johnstone - LDDWWW

St Mirren's 2-1 win over Motherwell in the Ladbrokes Premiership last Tuesday saw Jim Goodwin's men open up a four point gap over bottom side Hamilton Academical and cut the gap on ninth placed Ross County to four points also. 

Despite Motherwell taking a first-half lead, the Buddies fought back thanks to goals from Jon Obika and Ilkay Durmus which gave Saints a first Premiership win of 2020.

8th placed St Johnstone maintain top six ambitions with Tommy Wright's side sitting five points off Hibernian with two games in hand. 

The Perth Saints are unbeaten in their last five league matches having drawn with Rangers (2-2), Ross County (1-1) & Hearts (3-3), while defeating Motherwell (2-1) and Aberdeen (1-0). 

St Johnstone's last league loss came at the end of January when they lost 3-0 to Celtic at McDiarmid Park. 

Both sides come into tonight's match on the back of defeats in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-finals. The Buddies were beaten 2-0 by Aberdeen at the Simple Digital Arena on Saturday, while St Johnstone lost 1-0 at home to Celtic on Sunday.

PREVIOUS

Tonight's match will be the third meeting of the Saints this season. 

St Mirren came out on top in the first battle of the Saints of the season when goals from Jon Obika and Danny Mullen gave the Buddies a 2-0 win at the Simple Digital Arena in October. 

Jim Goodwin's men then made the trip to Perth in late December with the sides unable to be separated in a 0-0 draw at McDiarmid Park.

St Johnstone's last win over St Mirren was in March 2019 as they edged the Buddies out 1-0 at McDiarmid Park.

TEAM NEWS

Gary MacKenzie, Kyle Magennis, Stephen McGinn and Ryan Flynn all remain out for the Buddies.

MANAGER'S THOUGHTS

"It's going to be a really difficult game there's no doubt about that.

"They are defensively strong and not giving much away but they carry a real good threat going forward. 

"We're well aware of what they can do but I genuinely believe that we've shown that we have some good attacking players.

"Their defeat against Celtic was only their third in 16 games or something like that – there won’t be many better records out there than that at the moment.

"Tommy Wright was getting a lot of negative press earlier on in the season which wasn't justified in my opinion. He deserves great credit for how organised he has the team."

St Mirren CEO Tony Fitzpatrick, Head of Academy Allan McManus, Academy coach Craig McLeish and Women’s first team head coach Kate Cooper visited Rosario YFC in Northern Ireland on Sunday 1st March with official partners inspiresport's Head of Sales for Scotland Jed McCabe.

Four youth teams (two boys teams and two girls teams) were treated to a masterclass training session delivered by Allan McManus, Craig McLeish and Kate Cooper.

Following the session, Jed from inspiresport delivered a presentation to Rosario YFC coaches on how they can bring their teams over to the St Mirren Training Ground at Ralston where they can enjoy further in-depth sessions, play matches vs similar standard opposition and get the chance to meet first-team players and manager Jim Goodwin.

As well as the experience they receive at Ralston, groups are also given a VIP tour of the Simple Digital Arena as well as show their support for the Buddies at a home match. The ultimate goal is for Saints to identify new talent with hope that someday they will be running out for the first team.

The partnership continues to bear fruit with a further 40 people coming over to enjoy the unique St Mirren experience later this month and take in the home match against Rangers.

Tony Fitzpatrick said: "It was a real pleasure to visit Rosario YFC with Allan, Kate, Craig and Jed.

"It shows our commitment to the three way partnership open to both boys and girls.

"We are always made feel very welcome in Northern Ireland and firmly believe that we are building a pathway for players from Rosario YFC to our own academy and hopefully the first team."

Jed McCabe said: "To see the partnership growing is a huge sense of pride as we now have a solid foundation in place which allows St Mirren to identify new talent, but also market the club to a wider audience.

"The hospitality shown to us was second to none! It shows that Rosario YFC teams want to visit the academy in Ralston to see for themselves how special a club St Mirren are with yet another group coming over here in a few weeks’ time.

"I know we are making an impact when I hear that the young players have St Mirren on their computer games!"

Noel Savage, Rosario YFC, said: "Following the huge success last June when the St Mirren men’s first team came over to open our brand new facility at Ulidia Playing fields the place has gone St Mirren crazy.

"What attracts Rosario YFC to the partnership is we firmly believe in the St Mirren philosophy and the chance our talented players will have to reach the St Mirren academy and hopefully the men’s and women’s first team.

"We understand not all players will make it at a professional level that’s why it is fantastic that all our teams (59) will have the chance to experience first hand a tour of St Mirren with another of our partners inspiresport who organise all the logistics to a high level.

"Rosario YFC have a great track record of producing players with the likes of Martin O’Neill starting his career here."

Below: Head of Academy Allan McManus and Academy coach Craig McLeish deliver a training session

Below: St Mirren women's head coach Kate Cooper delivers a training session

If you live outside the UK & Ireland, St Mirren TV is your way to watch Paisley’s Premiership club live in action each and every home match day.

This service, which is delivered by media students from the University of the West of Scotland, will cover all of St Mirren’s home games.

As usual the St Mirren TV team will be presenting all the action from the Simple Digital Arena when St Johnstone are the visitors for Wednesday's Ladbrokes Premiership match.

If you want to tune in here is the info you will need:

St Mirren vs St Johnstone
Ladbrokes Premiership
Venue: The Simple Digital Arena, Paisley
Date: Wednesday 4th March 2020
Kick-off: 7:45pm GMT

To access this match day service:

1 Day Pass – €6.99 EUR
12 month Pass – €69.99 EUR

To view Terms & Conditions and get started with St Mirren TV please click HERE.

For technical support with St Mirren TV please e-mail tvsupport@stmirren.com

Our match day programme, published in partnership with Curtis Sport, will be available from the Club Shop ahead of Wednesday’s game.

This issue, for the Ladbrokes Premiership fixture against St Johnstone, is a 52 pager with a £3 cover price.

This latest edition includes the following:

Front Cover – Jamie McGrath.
The Gaffer - Jim Goodwin looks back on recent games and ahead to the match-up with the Perth Saints.
Last Time Out - Pictures by Allan Picken from St Mirren's recent 2-1 win away to Motherwell.
The Opposition – Brian Corry casts an eye over Tommy Wright's St Johnstone side.
St Mirren Programme Archive - Part 2 of Derek Drennan's review of programmes from Championship deciders.
Retro Saints - A pictorial look back at the match between the Paisley and Perth Saints on 19th October 2013.
100 Seasons at the Top - Cairters Corner recalls the dark decade of the 1990s in which Saints played mostly in the second tier.
They Played in the Stripes – David Cochran looks back on the St Mirren career of Derek Hyslop.
Matchday Gallery - Pictures of the post match presentations from the recent home match against Aberdeen.
English Title Winners - Liam Harding highlights the championship wins of Manchester City.
Centre Page Poster – Lee Hodson.
Fans Corner - Ticket prices, travel clubs update, match info, dates for fans to keep in their diary and introducing our match mascots.
Player Kit Sponsors 2019/20 – Check in to see who is sponsoring your favourite player's shirt for the season.
Stats and Picture Quiz - Player appearance stats and picture quiz on players who played for both St Mirren and St Johnstone.
Tony Fitzpatrick Stand - A nod to St Mirren legend Tony Fitzpatrick who has had the Family Stand named after him.
Panda's Fun Page – Some puzzles to keep the youngsters entertained during the half-time break.
Football Bloody Hell - Alan Gallacher debates the rights and wrongs of Financial Fair Play!
Marketing Matters – Campbell Kennedy updates on the latest events and happenings at the club's Commercial Department.
St Mirren Fixtures & Results 2019/20 – A handy reference page of all the fixtures and results for this season.
Team Lines – The two squads and match officials for Wednesday’s match.

To buy this issue or to place your programme subscription for the 2019/20 season click HERE.