Match report: St.Mirren 0 - 2 Celtic - Redemption begins.

The last week and a half has been hard going as a Celtic fan. For many of us it was back to square one after such impressive form from the team since January. Celtic Football Club have a lot to do to convince the support that they are worthy of praise, adoration and indeed, the high wages. Today's match against St.Mirren was the beginning of that journey for Neil Lennon and his players and while not terribly convincing in terms of attractive, dominating football many will feel relief at picking up another three points.

The game began in a satisfying way for Celtic, in the sixth minute Stokes and Hooper combined with a clever one-two and Hooper slotted home to make it 1-0. Only a few minutes later Hooper capitalised on a St.Mirren defensive error to slip in one on one with keeper Craig Samson, placing the ball into the corner of the net. These goals were after a horrendous decision from referee Willie Collum, who ruled an Anthony Stokes goal invalid for a seemingly invisible foul on the St.Mirren defender he nicked the ball off, one for the Stokes first goal scorer betters to lose sleep over. So far, so good for Celtic however it wasn't to be plain sailing as the match grew older. Paul McGowan passed a flat footed Kelvin Wilson and forced a fantastic save from Fraser Forster shortly after. For a period St.Mirren controlled possession and looked to find joy in the final third of the pitch, fortunately though they failed to create another clear cut chance before half-time.

In the second half Nigel Hasselbaink continued to use his pace to give the Celtic defence problems but St.Mirren never really looked like scoring despite forcing a number of corners. Forster though was again brought into action when a low shot deflected off of Kayal and the Englishman impressed again with a reaction save. Kelvin Wilson almost had a horror moment when he misjudged a header back to Forster and the ball narrowly slipped wide of the post, he wasn't having a great game. At the other end Celtic managed to get in behind the defence on a few occasions with Ki, Forrest and Stokes all going close to finishing the game off, Craig Samson though was having an even better game than Forster. It was Forrest in fact who looked the most threatening Celtic player in the latter stages of the game as the game petered out to a welcome three points and clean sheet.

Substitutions were again lacking from Neil Lennon until very late into the game. In the second half the Celtic players, notably Scott Brown and Ki looked very tired and St.Mirren were consistently breaking past the midfield into the final third. It seemed at this point, around 60-70 minutes that substitutions were most definitely needed to see the game out more convincingly but a sub wasn't forthcoming until the 85th minute when Ledley replaced Ki. No damage was done but it again is a sign that Lennon is reluctant to change anything on the pitch in a pro-active way.

Three points and a clean sheet is a welcome result of any game Celtic play but even more so after such a dreadful week. How important it is to have Gary Hooper back, fit and looking sharp in a game where we were otherwise wasteful in front of goal. Celtic played 90 minutes with ten men away in Europe on Thursday night and most of those players played again this lunchtime. It was a good result under these circumstances and hopefully the impressive individual & team performances will follow later. There is now an international break with our next game not until 10th September against in form Motherwell at Celtic Park. By that time I hope we are energised further by one or two signings before the end of the transfer window. There is still insecurity that Celtic are not the finished product capable of taking the title off of Rangers.