2020-03-01: St Johnstone 0-1 Celtic, Scottish Cup

Match Pictures | Matches: 2019 – 2020 | 2019-20 Pictures

Trivia

• Scottish Cup Quarter-finals
• Celtic, Aberdeen, Hearts & Hibs win thru to the semi-finals. Hearts shock Sevco with a 1-0 victory, and the Sevco manager was talking on the brink of resignation as they have nothing left to play for domestically (excluding a league collapse by Celtic).
• Celtic v Aberdeen in next round (semi-finals) at Hampden.
• Ex-Celt Jamie McCart in the St J side almost broke the legs of a Celtic player, and should have been sent off for the challenge.
• Celtic 34 games unbeaten in domestic cup games.
• Goal was scored officially by Christie, but some state Jullien got a touch on it to divert it into the net so should be put as his goal.
• St Johnstone pitch was a farm, a sand & mud bath. The weather of late has been atrocious, and notably there was another big storm hitting the British & Irish isles (Storm Jorge).
• Coronavirus: the flu-like disease is causing panic, and cases have now arisen in Scotland. Major events across the world, and even in Europe, have been cancelled or played behind closed doors (esp in Italy) to help curtail spreading of the disease. Concerns growing of impact if it gets worse in the UK. Some saying it could prematurely end the league seasons (then Celtic won't get the 9iar, and Liverpool in England won't win their first league title in ~30 years).
• England: Liverpool unbeaten 44 games run ended with 3-0 loss to Watford. They won't now go on to win the league undefeated but still on course for league and still in European Cup etc. Man City won their league cup on Sunday.
• SFA published guidelines banning heading of footballs in training sessions for children aged six to 11.In October, a study was released linking former footballers with degenerative brain disease, spurring many medics to call for a common sense ban on heading for children.
• Ex-Celt Ki Seung Yung joins RCD Mallorca. All the best to him. There were rumours previously about a return to Celtic, but unlikely due to squad number of midfielders, and no guarantee of a place for him.
• Former Celtic midfielder Joe Ledley has joined Australian A-League side Newcastle Jets on a short-term deal. Ledley links up former Rangers, Sevco and Celtic striker Kenny Miller, the club's new technical director.
• Two Celtic shirts have featured in a music video by South Korean teen band Stray Kids. The nine-piece boyband, based in Seoul, have been active since 2017 and are known for tracks such as Miroh and Double Knot, which both made the US Billboard top five last year. The video featuring the Celtic shirts is for My Pace, which reached number 8 in the Billboard charts in 2018 and has garnered 75 million views on YouTube.
• Reports: Edouard reportedly offered 1 year longer with bumper pay to help get him to stay for longer as expecting big interest this coming summer.

Review

(Tk57 of KdS)
Celtic, our Celtic, won. The cup run is secured into the semi finals.
On Saturday, the vermin were expunged from the very same tournament by a team who are bottom of the SPL. When their rank, rotten to the core, supporters woke from their stinking pits on Sunday morning, their only thought and hope was that we might “ blink “. But we are Celtic.

We must take nothing for granted. Judging by the utter buffoonery of the refs this weekend, anything can happen. If we, The Famous Glasgow CELTIC, continue to score just 1 more than the opposition the 9 in a row and the Quadruple Treble will be ours, and the huns are on their scabby knees. Sink them Celtic. The records are there for us to post in the annals of Scottish Football history.

The first to win the Big Cup, first to 9 in a row, first to do it twice and first to 10. Throw in first to treble trebles, first to quadruple trebles and first to 4 Scottish Cups on the bounce.

Glorious. Just bloody glorious. Do it. Crush their breaking Hearts.

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Articles

St Johnstone 0 – 1 Celtic: Christie strike takes Scottish Cup holders to semi-finals

Celtic were made to work far harder than they have been accustomed by St Johnstone in recent times but still extended both their mastery of the Perth club and their extraordinary winning run in domestic cup football.
By Stephen Halliday
Sunday, 1st March 2020, 5:50 pm
Updated
14 hours ago

Ryan Christie’s 19th goal of the season eventually separated the Scottish champions from opponents against whom they had rattled in 30 goals without reply in their nine previous encounters.

It was Celtic’s 34th consecutive domestic cup-tie victory as they secured yet another trip to Hampden in next month’s Scottish Cup semi-finals with their quest for a quadruple treble firmly on course.

Saints can hold their heads up after a gritty and often enterprising display in which them briefly flirted with the possibility of upsetting the odds. But, like so many before them, they discovered that this Celtic side simply refuse to entertain the prospect of their vice-like grip on the country’s silverware being loosened any time soon.

Having been so comprehensively swatted aside by Celtic in most of the recent meetings between the sides, St Johnstone’s priority was to remain competitive and defensively robust for as long as possible.

To that end, there was plenty of encouragement for Saints boss Tommy Wright in the manner his players set about fulfilling that requirement.

They were tactically and positionally diligent as they looked to restrict the number of clear-cut chances Celtic could manufacture.

James Forrest has been the main source of Saints’ misery during that run of heavy defeats and the winger was unsurprisingly the first to ask questions of the home defence, cutting inside Scott Tanser and slipping a pass to Christie who curled a shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.

It was far from simply a rearguard action by Saints and they posed an early threat of their own when Matt Butcher dragged a shot off target after Fraser Forster’s unconvincing attempt to punch a Callum Hendry cross to safety.

Slick, incisive football was difficult on the heavy, sodden pitch but Forrest, Odsonne Edouard and Callum McGregor managed to combine neatly on the left to carve out a good opening in the 13th minute. McGregor’s low shot was gratefully gathered by Zander Clark after it initially looked as if the ball may squirm under the goalkeeper into the net.

There was another response by Saints three minutes later when Hendry guided a header just wide of Forster’s left-hand post from a David Wotherspoon free-kick.

Clark made a fairly routine save to hold an Edouard shot after the Saints defence was unable to properly clear a well dug-out cross by Greg Taylor.

But it was Forster who made the more difficult stops in the remainder of the first half as Saints gave as good as they got. The big Englishman had to back-pedal furiously to touch over a deflected cross by the impressive Drey Wright, then got down to his left to turn behind a stinging shot by the same player who had pounced on slack play by Christie.

From the resulting corner, Forster was called into action once more when he did well to touch over a looping header by Jamie McCart.

Neil Lennon’s side sought to step up the tempo at the start of the second half and began to create opportunities more regularly. Forrest dragged a shot wide of Clark’s right-hand post after a smart 1-2 with Taylor, then Edouard burst forward after a mistake by Jason Kerr but his normal composure deserted him as he sent a poor shot high and wide.

Clark saved well from Forrest, then Griffiths and Christie both missed the target from inviting positions as Celtic enjoyed some sustained domination for the first time in the contest.

The increasingly busy Clark kept Saints in it with a couple of exceptional reaction saves, first of all from Christie’s close-range shot and then from a cute backheeled attempt by Edouard which the keeper somehow diverted on to his left-hand post.

The hosts looked to have ridden the storm and had another decent spell of their own during which Forster had to sprint from his line to prevent the hard-working Stevie May from getting on the end of a superb through ball by Ali McCann.

Just as it seemed the least Saints had earned was a replay, they were undone by a set piece in the 81st minute conceded by former Celtic defender McCart’s crunching foul on Forrest.

Christie’s fizzing delivery from the right was the kind defences dread and the ball sailed all the way beyond Clark’s right hand into the corner of the net. It looked as if Christopher Jullien may have got a slight touch to help it on its way but the celebrations indicated it was Christie’s goal.

BBC

By Jamie Lyall

BBC Scotland

From the section Scottish Cup

Highlights: St Johnstone 0-1 Celtic

Ryan Christie's late goal booked holders Celtic's a Scottish Cup semi-final date with Aberdeen at the expense of dogged St Johnstone in Perth.

The midfielder's free-kick from the right beat Zander Clark, with defender Christopher Jullien claiming a touch.

Celtic had pummelled the hosts, Odsonne Edouard striking a post as they sought a 34th-straight domestic cup win.

St Johnstone came close through Jamie McCart but ultimately failed to keep the dominant champions at bay.

Neil Lennon's side join Edinburgh clubs Hibernian and Heart of Midlothian as well as their last-four opponents as they pursue a fourth-consecutive domestic treble.

Reaction & follow semi-final draw live

An ugly but precious win for Celtic

After the anguish of Thursday night and the fury that followed their Europa League exit, Celtic's followers demanded their team rise from the canvas. Another treble is craved – indeed, expected – by a fan base that has grown accustomed to lavish fare and supremacy in Scottish football.

For long spells, they laid siege to the St Johnstone goal, the team who had not beaten the champions since 2016, not scored against them in 10 games and conceded 30 without reply standing firm, their net protected by the outrageously good Clark.

It took time, though, for the tepid opening to sputter into life on a rutted gluepot of a McDiarmid Park pitch. Callum McGregor rasped one straight at goalkeeper Clark. Fraser Forster, in the other goal, leapt to his left to tip away a Drey Wright pile-driver than flicked McCart's header over the bar.

That was the best of a turgid first half. In the second, Celtic began to swagger, at last finding their verve and fluency and delivering some intricate attacking manoeuvres.

James Forrest swept just across the face from one cascading move. Odsonne Edouard steamed into the box, opened his body, and ballooned high into the Celtic fans behind Clark's net. Leigh Griffiths smashed over, Christie hammered wide, then found only the iron chest of Clark from point-blank range after a neat one-two between Edouard and Tom Rogic.
Celtic graphic

The bombardment continued. From the corner that followed, Edouard's sumptuous back-heel flick struck the near post and the grounded Jullien could not jerk the rebound into the unguarded goal.

Still, the breakthrough was not forthcoming. St Johnstone began to stir and threatened to cause a tremor. Stevie May was beaten to a probing through-ball by Forster, then thundered straight into a defender from 15 yards out when he snuck free in the box. There was even a hopeful shout for a penalty when Scott Tanser tumbled into the quagmire after coming off second-best to Nir Bitton.

No debate, though, about the foul that led to Christie's killer blow. Forrest rampaged up the right flank on the break and was scythed down by McCart. It was a horrid tackle and a costly one. Christie whipped the free-kick into the channel between outfield men and goalkeeper, and into the far corner for his 20th goal of the season, with Jullien galloping away touting himself as the scorer.

St Johnstone, who command a teeny sliver of Celtic's vast purse, pushed the holders hard, no question. This was an ugly, mud-spattered win, but a precious one. Celtic have a propensity to keep going in the cups, to prevail in strife and haul themselves over the line. They're heading back to Hampden and the site of so many glories again.
Report
'We deserved a replay' – reaction

St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright: "I thought we deserved a replay. We were excellent and created a lot of good opportunities, particularly in the first half.

"We went toe-to-toe with them, which isn't easy and we were causing them problems."

Celtic manager Neil Lennon: "I thought we thoroughly deserved the win. Off the back of their efforts on Thursday night it's a really important win.

"We've got a lot to play for still, and the players showed good resilience out there, and good mental strength to get through and win the tie."