Groundhog day

They say there is three certainties in life; death, taxes and Celtic playing St Johnstone. At least this is how it has felt in the last few weeks due to the way the fixtures have lined up.

Not that I am complaining about this particular run of games though. They have been extremely lucrative for Celtic. Three wins, nine goals scored and zero conceded. This mini run of games has contributed nicely to Celtic’s overall flawless record in 2019 of seven wins in a row.

Yesterday’s win against the saints was the best performance of the year so far. Oliver Burke was the star man throughout, as his pace and power was causing St Johnstone problems all afternoon long. It was his first driving run of the game that set up the opening goal as he crossed for Scott Sinclair, who managed to beat the keeper at his near the post. A few minutes later it was two nil, when Scott Brown scored an unbelievable goal from twenty yards out.

Into the second half and despite a change of tactics from the visitors, Celtic continued to dominate. The inevitable third goal came on the fifty-second minute when a great run from Jonny Hayes ended with James Forrest rolling the ball through the keepers legs. A couple of minutes later and it was Burke again who was causing problems. Picking up on a loose ball and running at the St Johnstone defence, he crossed into the box where Sinclair was waiting for a tap in. One minute from time Sinclair completed his hat-trick to book Celtic’s place in the quarterfinal of the Scottish Cup and put to an end the eternity of matches against the Perth side( for now anyway).

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BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

When The Outhere Brothers wrote their song “Boom Boom Boom” they could only dream that the track would be played at a 4th round Scottish Cup game. However I am sure they will be glad to know that they can now tick that off their bucket list. While some fans complained about the tune, I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it is a musical masterpiece compared to the Scott Brown tribute song released last year.

Questionable song choices aside though, Celtic had a job to do on Saturday. Coming off their embarrassing performance against Rangers and the three week winter break which followed, the team had a point to prove. The game started as many would have expected with Celtic dominating possession and Airdrie putting every man behind the ball. The game was going to open up eventually and it happened just after the half hour mark when Izaguirre was fouled inside the box. Scott Sinclair stepped up but his spot kick was saved. This was the start of an up and down game for Sinclair which saw him miss an open goal shortly after before scoring in each half and then being denied a hat trick due to a poor offside call from the linesmen.

Scott Sinclair was involved in a lot of the games key moments.

Airdrie offered little throughout the game, apart from a moment in the first half when Scott Bain pulled off a remarkable string of saves in a row to deny the league 1 side an equaliser.

Celtic played with pace and intent throughout and this was exemplified when new signing Timothy Weah came off the bench to score. An excellent pass by Dedryck Boyata played Weah in behind allowing him to slip the ball past the goalkeeper. As he scored the aforementioned Outhere Brothers track played and if he continues to play like he did at the weekend then I am all for it.

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