After a cup final loss and their first league loss since early October in their last two matches, Celtic returned home to play St Johnstone at Celtic Park to get their inevitable title bid back on track.
In their first home game since 25th February, the best home record in the league went up against the best away record and it was Celtic who came out on top after a fairly stuffy affair with goals from Georgios Samaras and an own goal from Chris Millar in the 66th and 70th minutes respectively.
The game itself wasn’t much to write home about, although Celtic will come away more relieved they got the win than anything else. It steadies the ship and sets up a chance next week to clinch the title against the Kilmarnock (who beat Celtic in the League Cup final) at Rugby Park, the same place that saw Celtic turn around their season on October 15th 2011.
3-0 down at half time that day, Celtic pulled it back to draw the game 3-3, providing the impetus to go on a 20 game domestic winning streak over the Christmas period and into the New Year, overhauling a one-time 15 point deficit to then league leaders Rangers.
Charlie Mulgrew's 80th minute equaliser turned
Celtic's season around
Celtic won’t want this weekend’s game to be that tense, but a draw would see them clinch the title before the league splits for the run in. It would be Celtic’s first championship since 2008.
Celtic have come into criticism from some quarters over their ability to execute when they need to following the league cup final defeat to Kilmarnock and missing the chance to clinch the title at Ibrox just over a week ago. In the lead up to the game against St Johnstone, much improved defender Thomas Rogne was defiant about his team’s mentality, stating “We played big games before, we won them, so I don’t think it’s a mental thing. Going into big games is not a problem for us. It is something we look forward to”.
St Johnstone was a big game, and Celtic came through it without sparkling, but as various commentators said at the time, that’s the sign of champions. The clash with Kilmarnock this weekend is no different and Celtic will look to clinch the league title. Asked if there were any thoughts of revenge following the cup final defeat, striker Georgios Samaras was quick to emphasise the that all attention was on winning the game and the title. “We are not looking at the past, we are looking at the future”, he said. “It was a final, they won it, it’s finished. We don’t go there with our minds on revenge”.
Manager Neil Lennon may well use the cup final result as a source of motivation rather than revenge, but he will no doubt make it clear to his players that the most important thing is to get the result on Saturday. It would be a climax to a very good league season for Celtic having run their city rivals so close last season after a dreadful spell under Tony Mowbray. Lennon has turned the team around and he and his team thoroughly deserve their title when it comes. Celtic will be looking to make sure of it on Saturday.
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