St. Johnstone 0 - 1 Celtic FC: Neil Lennon’s men extend lead at the top of the table - SPL update
Celtic beat St. Johnstone 0-1 in a Scottish Premier League (SPL) encounter at the McDiarmid Park on Tuesday, 12 April 2011.
Beram Kayal scored the only goal of the game as The Bhoys extend their lead on top of the league table to five points.
The hosts made several changes to their team from the 2-0 defeat against Dundee United. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jordan-c2929 Robertson and Stevie May started upfront in a 4-4-2 formation.
On the other hand, Celtic also made wholesale changes to their team from their last week’s 3-1 win against Hibernian. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Daryl-Murphy-c10385 partnered Samaras upfront for the visitors.
The game witnessed a bizarre start as both teams were sluggish in the opening exchanges. The first real chance of the game fell Celtic’s way in the 11th minute of the game. A 30-yard free kick from Kris Commons bounced off the surface and fell
awkwardly for the goalkeeper, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Graeme-Smith-c15197, who made a smart save down to his left.
The visitors applied heavy pressure and dominated the proceedings. The Celts had another wonderful opportunity to take the lead after a huge mess in the hosts’ penalty area but Smith managed to punch the ball away to safety.
The visitors could have gone up by three goals in the opening half hour of the game but they were wasteful in front of the goal. Samaras and Murphy missed sitters in front of an open net from just a few yards out.
St. Johnstone’s first real chance of the game came in the 37th minute; Cleveland Taylor smashed a wonderful side-footed volley, which was heading for the top corner of the goal, but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Scott-Brown-c32660 deflected it out for a corner.
Celtic managed to take the lead just on the stroke of half-time whistle. Kayal made a darting run inside the penalty area before being fed by Brown and the Israeli knocked the ball into the bottom corner of the net to make it 1-0.
The second half witnessed a slow start as both teams played rugged midfield challenges in the early exchanges of the half.
The hosts had a fantastic opportunity to take the lead just after the hour mark; Liam Craig surged inside the penalty area before unleashing a powerful left-footed strike which was splendidly saved by Fraser Forster.
The game dried up in the middle period of the half and neither of the two teams threatened to score for long periods. Just before the full time whistle, Celtic had two wonderful opportunities to double their advantage but both went in vain, as Neil Lennon’s
men limped to a 1-0 win.
Celtic will now play Kilmarnock in their final game of the 2010/11 SPL on 20th April, 2011.
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