Match Pictures | Matches: 2024 – 2025
Trivia
- KO: 17:30; Saturday; League Match 29
- Celtic stretch their lead in the league to 16pts after Sevco lose 2-1 to Motherwell at Ibrox. Celtic now on 75pts & +70GD, way ahead of second placed Sevco.
- Yang scores a double after coming on as a sub, and wins plaudits from across the support.
- Celtic and Sevco close to agreeing the return of away ticket allocations for meetings of the two sides this season, with the next derby on 16 March at Celtic Park.
- Hibernian will have 7,000 tickets for their Scottish Cup trip to Celtic Park on 9 March. So a large away support, largest in years.
- On-loan Celtic winger Luis Palma scored a cracking goal and provided an assist in Olympiacos’ 6-0 cup win in the Greek Cup semi-final first leg.
Summary
(joebloggscity of TheCelticWiki)
If ever a scoreline was a bit misleading then it’s this one. St Mirren really should have been well in the lead by the end of the first half, then things came together (albeit not perfectly) yet Celtic went on a scoring rampage with Yang notably being a surprise hero with two goals. Rodgers called this one of his favourite results of the season, and maybe the surprise turn of events of this game is the reason why. An entertaining game, with Schlupp opening the scoring with a great low range long shot whislt St Mirren came back twice to keep themselves in the game, with one being an admittedly brilliant free-kick. A game that definitely was worthy of praise.
BBC:Home boss Stephen Robinson will no doubt have mixed emotions. He will be feeling the bitter sting of defeat with disappointment but also knows his side contributed fully to a fabulous game of football. They gave Celtic a real run for their money, drew several top-class saves from Denmark goalkeeper Schmeichel and will no doubt rue the concession of a needless penalty just before half-time that made their job even more tricky. The energy, pressing and organisation of this St Mirren side caused Celtic a fair few problems and, if they can keep up the intensity in the run-up to the Premiership split, they will still fancy their chances of making the top six for a third consecutive season.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers tells BBC Scotland the win against St Mirren “was one of my favourite results of the season”.
“It’s a brilliant three points for us. I think our attacking play was really strong. We were so good on a difficult surface, the players were technically very strong.
“I think it’s one of my favourite results of the season coming to St Mirren who have had some really good performances against other teams.
“Yang’s girlfriend is here at the moment so he’s in a great feeling. I said to her interpreter to try and make sure she stays!
“He’s a young player, he’s growing and developing which is why it’s about more than just performances and results, it’s about the development of young players.”
Brendan Rogers praised Yang’s performance: “He scored his two goals and the one that was disallowed, but his pass for Daizen’s goal, to see it and then to execute it, wow, what a pass.”
‘Overachieving Buddies still have a top six chance’ – Robinson
published at 20:18 Greenwich Mean Time 20:18 GMT FT: St Mirren 2-5 Celtic More from Stephen Robinson: “I don’t think many teams press Celtic like that and create that many chances but we didn’t take enough of them. “That’s probably been the story of our season. We can’t afford a striker that gets 20 goals. There’s very, very good points in that performance but we want to come out with three points.” “There’s four games to play, 12 points to play for and that can make a huge difference in the standings. The top six is hard to get into. “We’ve overachieved in the last two seasons, we know what we’re missing but financially that’s hard to do. To still be in the running it’s very much a case of how many points we can pick up in the next four games.”
Brendan “One of my favourite wins of the season. Yang was amazing when he came into the game. His ball for Daizen. His 2 goals. Subs were very important for us. This was a massive step for the title today. We still have improvements and can freshen up over the next week”
E-Tims @ETimsNet · 2h FT Saints 2 #Celtic 5 Saints probably the better team first hour but Celtic subs (McCowan and Yang and Maeda moving to striker) and Saints running out of gas allowed Celts to take total control the last 30 mins. Yang two great headers. Maeda magic. 16 points clear. Champions MASSIVE thanks to Ange for signing Maeda. Have to say….Brendan has made him a far better player. We have our Number 9 in the hoose for next season.
This is why we are Champions. Nowhere near our best for an hour. Played a ridiculous amount of games for 3-4 months. Opponents direct & physical (not a criticism btw). Many tired legs. Subs made. Others stepped up. Kept going. Magic last 30 mins. Brilliant effort
Delighted for Yang. We can all see he’s been in the main below the levels of others for the majority of the season but the last few weeks he seems to have pushed on a bit and his two goal tonight were outstanding
I get moaning during a game. We all do it…yours truly as much as others but….we’ve been MILES below our best the last 2 games…scored TEN goals….and are 16 points clear. What a fantastic manager and team we have.
Just watched replay. AJ touches ball but then goes through player on his ankle. If that was us we’d be shouting for a penalty.
Inside The SPFL @AgentScotland · 2h Brilliant game of football, probably one of the best of 2024-25, Celtic were absolutely clinical, Yang & McCowan coming on & Meada moving up top changed the game & Hatate suddenly remembered he was a top player, outstanding effort from St Mirren, a 3 goal margin was really harsh.That was incredible from Matthew MacDermid there, when it looked like Kühn was about to clear the ball he put his whistle to his mouth, then when ball got played back in the box toward Mandron, he delays the whistle until after the opportunity, don’t think I’ve seen that before.In fairness, McDermid does have form for putting the whistle to his mouth, that’s why he was criticised for Dessers goal that was initially disallowed against St Johnstone earlier in the season, it might just be a bad habit but the optics look terrible.
Teams
Celtic
Manager: Brendan Rodgers
Formation: 4 – 3 – 3
01 K. Schmeichel
15 J. Schlupp
06 A. Trusty, subbed for L. Scales at 27mins
20 C. Carter-Vickers
02 A. Johnston
41 R. Hatate
42 C. McGregor (c), Captain, subbed for Yang Hyun-Jun at 65mins
27 A. Engels
38 D. Maeda, subbed for J. Kenny at 95mins
09 A. Idah, subbed for Jota at 64mins
10 N. Kühn, subbed for L. McCowan at 64mins
Subs:
59 J. Bonnar
24 J. Kenny
14 L. McCowan
07 Jota
56 A. Ralston
05 L. Scales
12 V. Sinisalo
03 G. Taylor
13 Yang Hyun-Jun
Goals:
J. Schlupp (28′)
A. Engels (45’+1 pen)
Yang Hyun-Jun (68′, 90’+3)
D. Maeda (88′)
Assists:
N. Kühn (28′), R. Hatate (68′), Yang Hyun-Jun (88′), J. Schlupp (90’+3)
St Mirren
Manager: Stephen Robinson
Formation: 3 – 5 – 2
01 Z. Hemming
05 R. Taylor
13 A. Gogić 67′, Yellow Card at 67mins
22 M. Fraser 81′, Yellow Card at 81mins
24 D. John
06 M. O’Hara (c), Captain
15 C. Boyd-Munce, subbed for R. Idowu at 83mins
88 K. Phillips 67′, Yellow Card at 67mins, subbed for G. Kiltie at 77mins
02 R. Alebiosu
09 M. Mandron, subbed for J. Scott at 58mins
20 T. Olusanya, subbed for O. Oseni at 77mins
Subs:
12 R. Idowu
42 E. Bwomono
26 L. Kenny
11 G. Kiltie
19 O. Oseni
14 J. Scott
08 O. Smyth
03 S. Tanser
27 P. Urminský
Goals:
D. John (33′)
K. Phillips (48′)
Assists:
Referee Matthew MacDermid
Video Assistant Referee Andrew Dallas
Assistant Referee 1 Calum Spence
Assistant Referee 2 Steven Traynor
Fourth Official George Calder
Assistant VAR Official Alan Mulvanny
Venue:The SMISA Stadium
Attendance:7,127
Articles
- Match Report (see below)
Pictures
Match Links
Stats
St. Mirren
Celtic
Overall possession
St. Mirren 24.4% Celtic 75.6%
Shots
St. Mirren 14 Celtic 18
Shots on target
St. Mirren 7 Celtic 9
Total touches inside the box
St. Mirren 18 Celtic 32
Goalkeeper saves
St. Mirren 3 Celtic 5
Fouls
St. Mirren 8 Celtic 6
Corners
St. Mirren 3 Celtic 3
Shots
St. Mirren 14 Celtic 18
Shots on target
St. Mirren 7 Celtic 9
Shots off target
St. Mirren 6 Celtic 5
Blocked shots
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 4
Attempts out of box
St. Mirren 4 Celtic 5
Hit woodwork
St. Mirren 0 Celtic 1
One-on-one attempts
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 1
Total offside
St. Mirren 4 Celtic 3
Total tackles
St. Mirren 12 Celtic 7
Won tackles
St. Mirren 7 Celtic 5
Fouls
St. Mirren 8 Celtic 6
Total yellow cards
St. Mirren 3 Celtic 0
Total clearances
St. Mirren 22 Celtic 17
Headed clearances
St. Mirren 8 Celtic 10
Duels won
St. Mirren 37 Celtic 44
Clearances off the line
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 0
Total passes
St. Mirren 203 Celtic 682
Accurate passes
St. Mirren 134 Celtic 585
Backward passes
St. Mirren 38 Celtic 120
Forward passes
St. Mirren 108 Celtic 220
Total long balls
St. Mirren 56 Celtic 53
Successful final third passes
St. Mirren 53 Celtic 115
Total crosses
St. Mirren 22 Celtic 14
Touches
St. Mirren 368 Celtic 847
Touches in the box
St. Mirren 18 Celtic 32
Dispossessed
St. Mirren 4 Celtic 5
Goalkeeper saves
St. Mirren 3 Celtic 5
Diving saves
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 3
Saved shots from inside the box
St. Mirren 3 Celtic 4
Saved shots from outside the box
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 1
Keeper throws
St. Mirren 1 Celtic 4
Goal kicks
St. Mirren 6 Celtic 9
Pre Match Facts
St. Mirren have lost each of their last seven meetings with Celtic in all competitions, last losing eight in a row against the Bhoys in December 2012.
Celtic have only lost one of their last 20 away games at St. Mirren across all competitions (W16 D3), going down 0-2 in September 2022 under Ange Postecoglou.
St. Mirren are winless in their last four home league games (D1 L3), last going longer without victory in December 2021 under Jim Goodwin (6).
After winning 10 successive away league games from April to December 2024, Celtic have since won just two of their last six on the road (D2 L2), losing 2-1 at Hibernian in their last away outing.
Celtic’s Daizen Maeda has been directly involved in more goals in the Scottish Premiership this season (18 – 11 goals, 7 assists) than any other player. The Japan international has 13 goal involvements (9 goals, 4 assists) in his last 10 league appearances – as many as his previous 41 beforehand.
Articles
Sweet 16 for Celts as they extend league lead with win over St Mirren
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/march/01/sweet-16-for-celts-as-they-extend-league-lead-with-win-over-st-mirren/
First Team
By Matthew Campbell
Share
01 Mar 2025, 7:38 pm
Scottish Premiership
Saturday, March 1, 2025
SMISA Stadium, Paisley
ST MIRREN…2
(John 33, Phillips 48)
CELTIC…5
(Schlupp 28, Engels 45+1, Maeda 88, Yang 68 & 90 +3)
Celtic extended their lead at the top of the table to 16 points with a 5-2 victory over St Mirren in Paisley, thanks to goals from Jeffrey Schlupp, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and a double from Yang.
With just over 10 minutes gone, the Celts had their first big chance of the match. Nicolas Kühn sent a long ball over the top of the home side’s defence which Adam Idah picked up.
The striker cut the ball back to Reo Hatate who was 12 yards out from goal and unmarked, but the midfielder’s effort rose well over the bar and out of the stadium.
A few moments later, there was another chance. This time Jeffrey Schlupp was the architect as he danced past two defenders and passed to Daizen Maeda, but the forward was unable to hit the target.
The hosts had a massive opportunity to take the lead with nearly 20 minutes gone when Olusanya raced forward with the ball and found himself one-on-one against Kasper Schmeichel, but the Celtic keeper produced a good block to keep the scoreline level.
And Schmeichel was called in to action a few minutes later as he came up with a double save to prevent St Mirren from taking the lead.
With 25 minutes gone, there was a stoppage in play for a few minutes whilst Auston Trusty received treatment on a head knock that he had picked up, which resulted in the American being replaced by Liam Scales.
The break in play allowed the Hoops to gather themselves after St Mirren’s flurry of chances, and less than a minute after the play was restarted, Brendan Rodgers’ side took the lead.
Nicolas Kühn slipped the ball to Jeffrey Schlupp on the edge of the box and the left back was composed as he picked his spot and fired a shot in to the bottom corner off the post to make it 1-0 with his first goal for the club.
St Mirren hit back five minutes later with a goal from a free-kick on the edge of the box. Declan John produced a superb finish from the dead ball, with his effort cannoning off the underside of the bar on the way in.
The home support were buoyed by their side’s first half display, but the wind was taken out of their sails just before half time when Daizen Maeda was fouled in the penalty area and the Celts were awarded a penalty.
Arne Engels was the man tasked with taking the spot kick and he was typically cool-headed as he stepped up and drove the ball down the middle and in to the net to restore Celtic’s lead just before the break.
24%
Possession
76%
14
Shots
18
7
Shots On Target
9
3
Corners
3
8
Fouls
6
3
0
Cards
0
0
St Mirren started the second half well and less than three minutes in to the half, Killian Phillips found the back of the net for the home side to level the match again.
The hosts continued to put pressure on the Celtic defence, and Kasper Schmeichel was called in to action a few times to keep the score at 2-2.
Shortly after the hour mark, Brendan Rodgers made three changes as he looked to freshen things up, swapping Adam Idah, Nicolas Kühn and Callum McGregor for Jota, Yang and Luke McCowan.
And within minutes of coming on, Yang made the impact that the manager was looking for as Reo Hatate sent a ball deep to the back post which was headed in to the net by the Korean winger to make it 3-2 to Celtic.
St Mirren had a huge opportunity to equalise in the 75th minute, but Richard Taylor’s header from six yards out went wide of the post, but the Celts immediately went up the park and Yang found the back of the net again. However, this time the offside flag went up and the goal was ruled out.
In the 88th minute, the points were made safe as Daizen Maeda was sent through on goal by Yang, who produced a sensational pass to set up the goal.
Maeda cut in to the penalty area and left himself one-on-one with the keeper, and he made no mistake as he slotted the ball home for his 26th goal of the season.
There was still more to come from the champions as Yang grabbed his second goal of the match in the 93rd minute with another header at the back post, this time from a superb Jeffrey Schlupp cross.
The emphatic 5-2 win gives the Celts a massive 16-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table with just nine league games remaining.
Brendan Rodgers’ men will now start preparing for next weekend’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hibernian at Celtic Park.
St. Mirren: Hemming, Fraser, Gogic, Taylor, Alebiosu, Phillips (Kiltie 77′), Boyd-Munce (Idowu 83′), O’Hara, John, Olusanya (Oseni 77′), Mandron (Scott 58′)
Subs: Tanser, Smyth, Kiltie, Idowu, Scott, Oseni, Kenny, Urminsky, Bwomono
Celtic: Schmeichel, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty (Scales 27′), Schlupp, Engels, McGregor (Hyunjun Yang 65′), Hatate, Kühn (McCowan 64′), Idah (Jota 64′), Maeda (Kenny 95′)
Subs: Taylor, Scales, Jota, Sinisalo, Hyunjun Yang, McCowan, Kenny, Ralston, Bonnar
Brendan Rodgers: This is one of my favourite results of the season
https://www.celticfc.com/news/2025/march/01/brendan-rodgers–this-is-one-of-my-favourite-results-of-the-season/
First Team
By Paul Cuddihy, Celtic View Editor
Share
01 Mar 2025, 8:26 pm
Celtic’s 5-2 victory over St Mirren tonight (Saturday) saw Brendan Rodgers’ side extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership table to 16 points.
With just nine league games remaining, the Hoops are homing in on their fourth league title in a row, and while attention will now turn to the Scottish Cup and next weekend’s quarter-final against Hibernian, the Celtic manager was able to reflect on a good win against a tough St Mirren side.
Speaking to Celtic TV after the game, Brendan Rodgers said: “It’s one of my favourite results of the season.
“It’s our third game in a week, and it’s a tough place to come against a team which has had some fantastic results against the so-called big clubs, and on a difficult surface, so to score five goals and get the result was so good.
“There’s lot of work with nine games still to go, plus we want to win the Scottish Cup, so it’s really just focusing on one game at a time.
“I think now, thankfully, what we can do is get some freshness back into the players because that’s the little bit that’s been missing from our defending.
“We’ve had so many games and so much energy put in, and that fraction of concentration and speed in our pressing we’re just missing. But we’ll do that over the course of the coming weeks.
“With one game a week we can recover, train specifically and then go into the games in a really good place.”
The 5-2 win over St Mirren came courtesy of goals from Jeffrey Schlupp, Arne Engels, Daizen Maeda and a double from Yang, who was also denied a third by an offside flag, while it was his stunning pass which set up Maeda to score his 26 goal of the season.
And the South Korean’s performance in Paisley, coming off the back of his goal in the 5-1 midweek win over Aberdeen, earned praise from the Celtic manager.
“I’m so pleased for him and he works so hard,” said Brendan Rodgers. “He’s such a good guy, and whether he starts or whether he comes off the bench, he can make an impact.
“So to get his two goals – his third goal would have been a great goal but it was disallowed – and then his pass for Daizen’s goal, to see it and execute it was so, so good, I’m very pleased with him.”
BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cx2078edl3nt#Report
Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter
Celtic are now just three wins away from retaining the Scottish Premiership crown after seeing off St Mirren in a seven-goal classic in Paisley to extend their lead at the top of the table to 16 points.
If Brendan Rodgers’ side win their next two league games against second-top Rangers and Heart of Midlothian, they will travel to Perth in the first week of April knowing a win over St Johnstone will wrap up a fourth consecutive title.
They were made to work extremely hard for their victory by a St Mirren side that refused to lie down and twice came back to equalise before a fine late double from from Yang Hyun-jun either side of an excellent goal from Daizen Maeda.
Japan forward Maeda now has 13 goals from his last dozen games, while South Korean winger Yang – whose fine assist set him up – looks a much-improved player, and his two-goal cameo may make it hard for his manager to leave him out of the starting XI.
Latest St Mirren news on BBC Sport
Keep up to date with latest Celtic news on BBC
First-half efforts from Jeffrey Schlupp – his first for the club, cleverly finding the inside of the post from the left of the area – and an Arne Engels penalty had Celtic ahead at the interval.
However, the goal of the half came in between, courtesy of a brilliant, curling free-kick from the left boot of St Mirren wing-back Declan John.
There were also a couple of superb Kasper Schmeichel saves before that, denying first Toyosi Olusanya, when the striker was played in behind the Celtic defence, then Mark O’Hara after the Buddies captain shot on the turn from inside the area.
After the break, right-back Ryan Alebiousu made up for the sloppy concession of Celtic’s penalty by playing a key role in the Buddies’ second equaliser, slammed into the turf and over the despairing Schmeichel by Killian Phillips.
Celtic’s superior squad depth proved too much for St Mirren, however, with Yang, Jota and Luke McCowan all coming on to make important contributions, with McCowan cracking a fine shot off a post with 10 minutes to go in addition to the champions’ late goal blitz.
Mixed emotions for Buddies
Home boss Stephen Robinson will no doubt have mixed emotions.
He will be feeling the bitter sting of defeat with disappointment but also knows his side contributed fully to a fabulous game of football.
They gave Celtic a real run for their money, drew several top-class saves from Denmark goalkeeper Schmeichel and will no doubt rue the concession of a needless penalty just before half-time that made their job even more tricky.
The energy, pressing and organisation of this St Mirren side caused Celtic a fair few problems and, if they can keep up the intensity in the run-up to the Premiership split, they will still fancy their chances of making the top six for a third consecutive season.
Quality off bench makes difference
This was yet another good day at the office for the runaway league leaders, who nearly always find a way to get the job done.
In this case, with some style, as they just got better the longer the match went on.
It is not that often captain Callum McGregor will be taken off. Not a problem for his manager when Rodgers can replace him with the energy and skill of McCowan.
Jota and Yang also added significant quality when they came on and made things even more difficult for a tiring St Mirren side who had put so much into the first hour of the match.
Schlupp will be delighted to have scored his first Celtic goal, while Engels’ impressive debut season in Scotland has now yielded 10 goals.
The champions-elect now have a full week to prepare for the visit of Hibernian in the Scottish Cup before welcoming Barry Ferguson’s Rangers to Celtic Park on 16 March.
What they said
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: “I don’t think many teams press Celtic like that and create that many chances but we didn’t take enough of them.
“That’s probably been the story of our season – we can’t afford a striker that gets 20 goals. There’s very very good points in that performance but we want to come out with three points.”
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: “I think it’s one of my favourite results of the season coming to St Mirren who have had some really good performances against other teams.
“It’s a brilliant three points for us. I think our attacking paly was really strong. We were so good on a difficult surface, the players were technically very strong.”