2011-11-26: Celtic 5-0 St Mirren, SPL

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Trivia

• Celtic now 4pts behind the Huns who play next day.
• Dylan McGeouch scores an incredible goal running almost 60-70yards with the ball and scores. A great debut goal!!!
• Hooper hat-trick and Samaras scores debut goal!
• Charlie Mulgrew not in squad due to the passing of his father (RIP). GBrigade held up banner in respect to the player (he's a bit of a cult player now!).
• A damn wet & windy day!
• Remembrance held for Tom Maley in morning.

Review

(Duffsticks of KDS Forum)
after struggling to put a game to bed during the week, it was nice to see us razor sharp today. admittedly st mirren came out and tried to play, leaving space for our players, but they were pretty ruthless at exploiting it.

the majstorovic-wanyama-loovens unit looks solid, particularly with kayal adding extra beef in the midfield too. matthews and forrest also combine well down the flank, forrest has a real footballer's brain on him – he covers for matthews when he needs to, he's a good passer and an all-round good performer. he goes straight in ahead of brown into the right midfield slot for me.

we need to get this left back issue sorted out though. a better team than st mirren would have exploited ledley's defensive weakness – as much as the lad looked comfortable on the ball (as you would expect) he clearly isn't a full back, and we need to get a solid defensive performer in there to give back-up to izaguirre when he's fit. if hearts are having a fire sale in december, grainger may be an option to look at.

up front, we looked excellent. samaras was sensational and looked totally focused through-out the game. stokes put in a power of work and was effective through-out, he runs between the lines so well and gives defenders so many things to worry about. he simply had too much pace and guile for goodwin today, and it's no surprise that he had a hand in a few of the goals today.

all in all, a really excellent win and delighted for mcgeoch – he was brimming with confidence and that was a very special goal.

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Hooper hits hat-trick for Hoops

(UKPA) – 28 minutes ago

Gary Hooper grabbed a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of St Mirren at Parkhead to help take Celtic to within four points of Clydesdale Bank Premier League leaders Rangers.

Dreadful defending by the visitors allowed Georgios Samaras to open the scoring in the fourth minute with Hooper grabbing his first four minutes later from close range.

The former Scunthorpe striker scored twice more early in the second half before substitute Dylan McGeouch scored his first for the club in the 72nd minute with a wonderful solo effort, which began when he won the ball up in his own half.

Celtic started the game strongly but Samaras only put them ahead after Saints defender Marc McAusland made a mess of trying to clear a harmless Joe Ledley pass. The ball fell kindly to the Greece striker, whose low drive from the edge of the box squirmed through goalkeeper Craig Samson.

Samaras was involved again for the second when he set up Anthony Stokes inside the box and his drive was tapped into an empty net at the back post by Hooper as the visitors appealed unsuccessfully for offside.

In the 19th minute Samaras set up James Forrest with a cut-back after forcing his way into the box, but the Scotland international's left-footed effort was stopped by Samson. After that Celtic's early enthusiasm waned somewhat. Stokes had the ball in the net with a drive but long after the offside flag was raised.

Just seconds after the restart Samson had to make a close-range save from Hooper with the St Mirren defence again in disarray. The home fans didn't have long to wait for the third, when in the 53rd minute Victor Wanyama's pass sent Stokes racing down the left and and the Irishman cut the ball into the box for Hooper to fire home.

Three minutes later the former Scunthorpe player earned himself the match ball with another fine piece of finishing. After getting the break of the ball when he tried a one-two with Forrest, he clipped the ball over Samson from 10 yards for his third.

In the 65th minute Celtic boss Lennon replaced Forrest with former Rangers youth player McGeouch and within minutes he grabbed a brilliant first goal for Celtic, robbing St Mirren midfielder Kenny McLean inside his own half and racing towards the St Mirren box, using Stokes as a decoy before driving low past the hapless Samson.

In the final seconds Beram Kayal's shot appeared to strike Lee Mair on the hand but referee Steven McLean ignored penalty claims.

Copyright © 2011 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Celtic5-0St Mirren

Page last updated at 17:08 GMT, Saturday, 26 November 2011
By Keir Murray

BBC Scotland

Hooper (centre) is congratulated on his first goal by James Forrest and Joe Ledley

A Gary Hooper hat-trick against St Mirren helped move Celtic to within four points of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Danny Lennon's men found themselves two goals down after eight minutes.

Georgios Samaras smashed a low shot under Craig Samson, then Hooper scored his first with a tap-in.

Hooper added his second after the break with a fine turn and shot and dinked home Celtic's fourth before sub Dylan McGeouch scored a wonderful solo goal.

Celtic's early goals followed a spell of crisp passing and good movement by the visitors in the opening three minutes.

Yet, in the blink of an eye, Celtic were on their way to making it four SPL wins in a row.

Marc McAusland gifted possession to Samaras when he took a fresh-air swipe at the ball and the Celtic striker slammed a low shot from 16 yards at goal. Samson ought to have saved it but he allowed the ball to squirm over the line.

And Samaras was involved in Celtic's second.

He picked up a pass from Joe Ledley and set off on what should by now be a trademark run – if only the Greek could find consistency. He rampaged into the St Mirren box, passed to Anthony Stokes on the left and the Irishman's ball across the face of goal was turned in by a grateful Hooper.

Celtic winger James Forrest was next to trouble the Saints goal. He hit a left-foot effort from 14 yards that Samson used his legs to smother and the Scotland international followed that with a meaty thump at goal that cleared the St Mirren crossbar by a foot or so.

With the rain bucketing down, Samaras continued to test the legs and lungs of his opponents with runs from deep, yet St Mirren gradually got a handle on the game and began to enjoy more possession by simply passing and moving.

With Jim Goodwin winning challenges in midfield, the attack-minded Paul McGowan and Kenny McLean keen to get on the ball and Nigel Hasselbaink and Gary Teale making decent runs down the left and right wings respectively, St Mirren were capable of troubling Celtic.

However, the problem for Buddies boss Lennon, who signed a new deal earlier in the week, was that there was seldom any St Mirren player in a threatening position when crosses were hit into the box.

This he hoped to put right at the interval when he swapped Teale for centre-forward Steven Thompson.
But the action was all at the other end after the break. Only 15 seconds into the second period, Samson saved superbly from Hooper's close-range shot, and he was soon called upon to repel a Beram Kayal drive.

In 53 minutes Hooper made sure of the points. Stokes ripped through the Saints defence on the left wing and crossed for the little English scorer whose turn and shot were worthy of applause.
A dejected-looking McGowan drilled a shot just over the bar from 22 yards before team-mate David Barron replaced the presumably injured van Zanten.

Hooper claimed his hat-trick when, 40 yards out, he cushioned a high ball and raced at goal. He worked a one-two with Stokes and was fortunate to get the break of the ball off a Saints defender before dinking the ball over Samson.

McGeouch had been on the pitch for Forrest for eight minutes when he scored a wonderful solo goal to make it 5-0. He waltzed from deep through the red and black jerseys before despatching a low left-foot shot into the net.

St Mirren could find no way past the Celtic rearguard and left the east end of Glasgow on the end of a heavy defeat.
Celtic, though, are now putting together a real challenge for the title.