Battling Buddies edged out by Celtic

Nikolas Agrafiotis scored his first St Mirren goal to give us a first-half lead, but goals from Liam Scales and Hyunjun Yang saw Celtic leave the Marbill Coaches Stadium with the points.

Manager Craig McLeish named the same starting lineup that defeated Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Wednesday night.

Ismeal Kabia impressed throughout the night and he drew an early foul from Colby Donovan who wiped out the winger on the left-hand side on eight minutes. That saw the Celtic man pick up the game's first booking.

10 minutes later Saints worked Viljami Sinisalo in the Celtic goal for the first time. The goalkeeper was down well to push away a Fraser Taylor strike before blocking Declan John on the follow up.

Saints were awarded a penalty kick a minute later when Chris Mochrie's volley was handled by Scales. Referee Ryan Lee pointed to the spot with a lengthy VAR check confirming the ball was handled inside the area. Agrafiotis stepped up and blasted home the penalty to grab his first Saints goal and put us ahead.

Celtic thought they'd drawn level on 30 minutes when Camilo Duran followed in Yang's initial effort. A VAR check saw the goal ruled out for offside. The visitors pressed for an equaliser and Saints had Jacob Chapman to thank for keeping us ahead in the final minutes of the first-half. The goalkeeper made a brilliant save to turn over Callum McGregor's shot into the ground as it looked to creep into the top corner. Henry Fieldson then made a superb goal-saving challenge to deny Duran the opportunity to race clear on goal.

The visitors started the second-half strongly and should have found themselves level a few minutes after the restart. The ball from right was swung in to the back post by Haissem Hassan where it was met Yang at the far post but somehow put it past the post. Moments later a dangerous ball from the left was pushed out by Chapman only as far as an unmarked Hassan who fresh air swiped his shot.

Celtic's early second-half pressure told as they drew level six minutes after the restart. Liam Scales rose above the Saints defence to glance home Benjamin Nygren's corner.

The Buddies responded well to the setback and should have retaken the lead just after the hour mark. Mochrie was found in space at the back post from a corner but scooped over. Saints then make first change seconds later with Samuel Ramos replacing Taylor.

Celtic took the lead in clinical fashion after hitting Saints on counter. Ryan Carr was dispossessed by Duran in the Celtic half. The forward burst forward and fed it to Yang who raced through on goal and slid beyond Chapman.

Saints manager Craig McLeish introduced Luke Thomas in place of Mochrie and Eseosa Sule for Agrafiotis. Thomas forced a big save from Sinisalo at his near post within five minutes of his introduction. Ramos then tested the Celtic goalkeeper with a strike from 20 yards which the stopper had to get two strong hands behind to push away.

With just over five minutes remaining, Jake Young came on for Carr and he almost made an immediate impact with a brilliant driving run down the left-hand side. He turned it across to Thomas who was unmarked but it sat up too high for the winger who knocked over.

Celtic added a third in stoppage time through substitute Shumiara Mheuka, but it was also disallowed for offside. The Buddies couldn't force the opportunity for a leveller as we saw our unbeaten league run come to an end.

Full-Time: St Mirren 1-2 Celtic

Referee: Ryan Lee
AR1: Scott Anderson
AR2: Ross Nelson
Fourth Official: Jamie Wilkie
VAR: Don Robertson