Sweet 16 for Celts as they extend league lead with win over St Mirren | OneFootball

Scottish PremiershipSaturday, March 1, 2025SMISA 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.

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.