2010-03-24: St Mirren 4-0 Celtic, SPL

Match Pictures | Matches: 2009 – 2010 | 2009-2010 Pictures

Trivia

• Unbelievable! Our worst defeat since Inv Caley defeat under Barnes, and worst domestic defeat in around 30 years in SPL (exc v Rangers).
• Tony Mowbray‘s last game in charge as manager, resigned the next day.
• Effectively 16pt behind Huns now in League
• Rangers knocked out of Scottish Cup against Dundee Utd, so luckily they won’t win the treble now!
• Boruc out due to family issues.

Review

The less said the better…….

Scoreline says it all, but congratulations to St Mirren for a great victory over Celtic. Can’t deny that to them.

Humiliation for Celtic, and the end of the road for Mowbray. A decent man but beyond his ability at Celtic for the management role. The club needs more than he has the ability at this time.

Celtic had plenty enough talent in this match, but to lose by such a manner shows the team is demorlised, lacking structure, confidence and the Mowbray experiment has sadly failed.

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St Mirren 4 – 0 Celtic

BBC

By Martin Conaghan

Andy Dorman and Steven Thomson bagged double strikes to give St Mirren their first ever win against Celtic in the Scottish Premier League.

Dorman fired the home side in front on 38 minutes after Billy Mehmet had flustered the visiting defence.

Steven Thomson slotted in from 18 yards for the Buddies’ second and Dorman added another six minutes from the end.

Thomson completed a memorable night late on with a cool finish from Michael Higdon’s square ball.

The three points edge St Mirren further away from the relegation zone and heap the misery on under-pressure Celtic boss Tony Mowbray.

MY SPORT: DEBATE
Give your reaction to the result in Paisley

The defeat maintains Rangers’ 10-point lead at the top of the SPL table, with the Ibrox side having two games in hand.

Georgios Samaras and midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng came in for Marc-Antoine Fortune and Marc Crosas, while St Mirren were without Celtic’s on-loan defender Graham Carey.

Higdon was dropped to the Buddies’ bench as Steven Robb, Dorman and Craig Dargo came in.

It was almost 15 minutes before the first major action of the match when Mehmet put Celtic keeper Lukasz Zaluska to the test from close range, then Samaras fired towards goal at the other end, but Buddies keeper Paul Gallacher was up to the task when the ball came off the woodwork.

Minutes later, Aiden McGeady threaded through to Robbie Keane who fired for goal, but Gallacher was at full-stretch to prevent the Irishman from scoring.

Paul McGowan’s shot was blocked shortly after the half-hour mark, prompting Dargo to speed away on the break, but Josh Thompson kept a cool head and managed to break up the attack.

St Mirren opened the scoring iagainst the run of play when Mehmet took advantage of some careless Josh Thompson defending and flicked on for Dorman to blast in a close-range shot.

Samaras’ long-range effort on the stroke of half-time was pushed wide by Gallacher as the hosts went in with the interval advantage.

Immediately after the break the St Mirren fans were claiming for a penalty after the big Greek striker appeared to handle the ball from a Dorman corner, but referee Charlie Richmond was in a poor position and waved for play to continue.

Moments later, McGeady sent a defence splitting pass through to Keane, but the striker was a yard off the pace and the chance to equalise was lost.

Celtic were torn apart at the back for St Mirren’s second when Dargo and Mehmet worked a fine one-two on the edge of the penalty area and Thomson slotted past a hapless Zaluska to put the Buddies two up on 58 minutes.

Mehmet almost added a third from a corner, but Zaluska managed to parry wide.

Dorman added his second of the night with six minutes remaining with a fine strike from deep inside the Celtic penalty area.

As the minutes ticked out, Higdon latched on to a free-kick and found Thomson unmarked on the right, and the former Brighton man blasted in to banish the nightmare of Sunday’s Co-Operative Insurance Cup defeat at Hampden Park.

Manager Tony Mowbray accepts blame for St Mirren defeat

BBC
Mowbray feels pressure at St Mirren

Under-fire Celtic manager Tony Mowbray accepted the blame for his side’s crushing 4-0 defeat by St Mirren.

The reverse, the biggest against the Buddies in 51 years, leaves Celtic 10 points behind league leaders Rangers, having played two games more.

“Maybe it isn’t a league for trying to force the game and be expansive,” Mowbray said after his side’s seventh SPL defeat of the season.

“I’ll take responsibility for the way we asked them to play.”

Mowbray’s side have struggled for consistency in his debut season and the Scottish Cup realistically represents their last opportunity to secure silverware.

Relegation-threatened St Mirren, who had lost to nine-man Rangers in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final, capitalised on Celtic’s defensive failings in spectacular style.

I’ll take responsibility for the way we asked them to play

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray

“We tried to be attack-minded, and left some young defenders pretty exposed,” said Mowbray.

“We tried to be positive and we lost four goals. It’s not the first time we’ve lost four goals this season.

“We brush ourselves down for the next one.”

Mowbray’s side have now lost six league matches on the road this season and laboured to break down a well organised home team.

“We maybe need to try to play slightly differently away from home,” added Mowbray.

“We had six strikers on the pitch at the death, but it left some young defenders exposed to an energetic, decent team.”

The defeat by St Mirren all but ends Celtic’s faint title hopes and Mowbray suggested the success of Walter Smith’s Rangers side was down to “negative” football.

“Rangers have been very consistent – they haven’t lost four goals in any game,” said Mowbray.

“They set up differently – maybe that’s the way to go.

“Maybe it isn’t a league for trying to force the game and be expansive – maybe it is a league for playing defensive, negative football and having quality up front to counter-attack.”

BBC Radio 5 Live’s Scotland correspondent Roddy Forsyth believes the St Mirren defeat could be Mowbray’s last game in charge.

“Yes, a Scottish Cup success would avoid a barren season,” he said. “But it will not be under the guidance of Tony Mowbray.”

Former Celtic player Frank McGarvey told BBC Radio 5 Live that he believed Mowbray was “out of his depth”.

However, Hearts manager Jim Jefferies said the under-fire boss deserves more time to make an impact.

“He does need a bit of time though to put things right and I hope that they give him that,” said Jefferies.

“Maybe winning the Scottish Cup would save him. I think they should stick with Tony and I’m sure that the board know what plans he has for the future.”

St Mirren’s once-in-a-generation win wrecks Celtic’s season

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 24 March 2010 22.39 GMT
Celtic‘s faint hopes of catching Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League were all but ended in the most dramatic fashion with their first league defeat at St Mirren in 21 years.
On an astonishing night in Paisley, doubles by St Mirren midfielders Andy Dorman and Steven Thomson stunned Celtic who were booed off the park by the travelling fans at the end. The Parkhead side, who finished with six attackers on the field, remain 10 points behind their Glasgow rivals who have two games in hand.
St Mirren went some way to making up for the disappointment of losing the League Cup final to nine-man Rangers at Hampden on Sunday as they romped to victory in style.
Their first home league win over Celtic since 1989 ended with their fans taunting their counterparts with a chant of “we want five”.
Celtic had kept three clean sheets in a row for the first time in two years and travelled to Paisley with the chance to cut the gap behind Rangers to seven points, and in the early stages there was little hint of the calamity that was to follow.
In the 13th minute, the St Mirren striker Billy Mehmet got the break of the ball inside the Celtic box but his weak shot from 14 yards was easily saved. At the other end seconds later, the Celtic right-back Mark Wilson’s cross from the right found Georgios Samaras, who beat Paul Gallacher at his near post but the ball bounced fortuitously back into the arms of the keeper.
In the 25th minute the Celtic midfielder Aiden McGeady, the visitors’ most dangerous player, drove at the St Mirren defence and played Robbie Keane in with a clever pass. Gallacher blocked the Irishman’s low drive but the ball spun high in to the air and had to be cleared from under the bar by Saints defender Jack Ross.
Gallacher made another save from Keane but this time the Republic of Ireland star’s shot was tame.
The visitors were in control but in the 38th minute, and against the run of play, the Paisley side took the lead, seconds after a penalty claim for a push on Dargo by Edson Braafheid had been ignored.
When the ball came back into the centre the Celtic defence failed to clear and it was Dorman, back in the side after being left on the bench for the League Cup final, who fired past Zaluska from just inside the box.
Stunned Celtic retaliated and Samaras had a good effort from long range parried by Gallacher but the Saints defence cleared their lines before the half-time whistle sounded.
Celtic survived another penalty claim moments in to the second half when Samaras seemed to use his hand to control the ball in the box, but again it was on the weak side.
Moments after McGeady’s cross had evaded everyone in the St Mirren six-yard box, Mehmet flashed a Ross cross over the bar. The pressure was slowly mounting on the Paisley side and after Gallacher flapped again at a cross, St Mirren midfielder Hugh Murray threw himself to block a Keane drive from close range.
But there was more drama in the 58th minute when Saints sensationally doubled their lead. The foraging Dargo robbed Thompson down the left, played a one-two with Mehmet then shaped to shoot before setting up Steven Thomson who rifled low past Zaluska from just inside the box.
Celtic immediately brought on Fortune for Ki and the pressure on the home goal intensified although there remained a hint of St Mirren danger on the breakaway.
Desperation was creeping in to Celtic’s play as the minutes ticked away and in the 84th minute Dorman took advantage of more slack play in the Celtic defence to slam number three past Zaluska.
Moments later, the Celtic keeper had to stretch to catch an attempted lob by Dargo as the Celtic backline threatened to dissolve, as they did when Thomson scored his second three minutes later.

Tony Mowbray accepted responsibility for Celtic‘s stunning 4-0 defeat by St Mirren last night, a result which leaves the club’s board of directors with an immediate decision to make regarding the manager’s future.
The result in Paisley, which was Celtic’s first league defeat in the town for 21 years and relegation-threatened St Mirren’s first win in 12 games, puts Mowbray’s position in stark focus.
Celtic trail Rangers by 10 points in the Scottish Premier League but the Ibrox team have two games in hand, a state of affairs which prompted angry scenes among the Celtic supporters at full-time.
“I just said to the team in the dressing room that I take responsibility,” said a shocked Mowbray. “It is not the first time we have lost four goals this season.”
On his future, the manager said: “I don’t think we need to get into that. Every time you lose a game at this football club it is disappointing.” The former West Bromwich Albion manager subsequently appeared to question his own tactical approach to games. “Maybe breaking it down, we need to play slightly differently away from home,” Mowbray said. “We had six strikers on the pitch at the death. Rangers have been very consistent and not lost many goals; maybe that is the way to go. Maybe it isn’t a league for trying to force games, maybe it is a league for playing defensive football, negative football, and having quality in attack.
“In trying to be positive we lost a few goals. I take responsibility. I left some very young defenders exposed but it was done for the right reasons. There were positive reasons why it was a negative result. By trying to get goals back we made positive substitutions. Sometimes it can backfire and you have to take it on the chin.”
Celtic’s board must decide whether to retain Mowbray until the summer, when it is increasingly likely he will depart in any case, or to regard last night’s result as a simple sacking offence. If the latter is the case, the coach Neil Lennon would be the most likely candidate to take over until the end of the season.
In what was a bittersweet night for Rangers, Walter Smith watched his team bundled out of the Scottish Cup by Dundee United in a quarter-final replay. David Robertson was United’s hero with the solitary goal in the dying seconds of the tie.Rangers may have edged a step closer to the title after events in Paisley but their treble dream is no more.
“Obviously the Celtic result is a good one for us but we still have football to play before we claim the championship,” cautioned Smith. “I was disappointed to lose so late in the game but what happened in the first game at Ibrox was costly for us; we were 3-1 up and should have seen the tie out.”