St Johnstone were beaten 4-1 by Celtic but it was a harsh scoreline on Callum Davidson’s team, who actually acquitted themselves very well for large chunks of this match.
The runaway Premiership leaders were ruthless in attack and Saints will feel they should have defended better for at least two of their goals.
But this wasn’t a momentum-busting afternoon, albeit losing Andy Considine, making his 600th career appearance, to an injury-time red card will have an impact in terms of suspension for the next game against Dundee United.
As the last man, the veteran centre-half conceded a free-kick on the edge of the box, which David Turnbull scored from.
All the other goals came in the first half – a Considine own goal, Kyogo and Aaron Mooy for Celtic – and a long-range Drey Wright shot for Saints to briefly make it a one-goal game.
Courier Sport picks out three talking points.
Celtic prosper down their right
Celtic can get at you through the middle, down their left or the right.
Whether it was tactical from Ange Postecoglou or coincidental, there was one channel in particular out of the three where they got the most joy.
All three of their first half goals had ‘made on the right’ written through them.
The opener on 13 minutes was the one in which Saints were least culpable defensively.
It was typically sharp pass and move football to open the home team up and Considine had no other option than to stick out a leg when Mooy squared a ball into the box.
The own goal was standard ‘what else can could I do’ centre-back stuff.
For the 2-0 goal, Tony Gallacher, making just his second start of the season, should have got tighter to Jota to block his cross and Considine didn’t sort his feet out effectively when the ball was delivered into the danger area.
Kyogo’s finish was then a formality.
For the Celtic third – and effectively the game-killer – just before half-time the gap between Saints’ two left-sided defenders was enormous.
Considine got attracted to the ball and Gallacher was too wide and in no position to help his team-mate out when it was chipped into the box by Jota for Mooy to finish off.
Celtic found it much harder to pick holes in the Saints defence in the second half but their job was done.
Deadly Drey
The numbers are starting to look very impressive for Drey Wright.
A sweet 25-yard strike that deceived Joe Hart with the swerve he got on the ball was his second goal in the space of five days and his fifth for the season.
ST JOHNSTONE ARE BACK IN IT!
A beauty from Wright and it's game on… 👀 pic.twitter.com/Xji6vy2Ad5
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) February 5, 2023
That’s his highest career total for a campaign and makes him joint club top scorer, along with Stevie May.
In the league, he’s top on his own.
Wright is quietly turning himself into a player of the year contender, performing to a consistently high standard, whether it’s as a wing-back or a wide midfielder.
Davidson was confident he’d get energy and a high standard of passing from Wright when recruiting him from Hibs for a second stint in blue and white.
Goals are proving to be a very significant added bonus.
Cloud has passed
The last time Saints played at McDiarmid Park, there wasn’t much love in the air.
Fans were boycotting the Rangers cup tie and the team had just produced its worst defensive display against Livingston in their previous contest.
It’s another home defeat but it shouldn’t have punctured some hard-earned on and off-pitch optimism.
The announcement that the club will be holding an open meeting for supporters to improve communication appears to have been a well received start to the bridge-building process.
And the team has now put together four decent (one of them very good) performances in a row.
They played some easy-on-the-eye spells of passing football in this contest, with Graham Carey much-improved.
There are no more games against Rangers or Celtic to go before the split and Saturday’s results ensured the bottom two are still at a safe enough distance of seven points.
Saints now have a free weekend and then the attempt to bridge the gap to the top six can begin with genuine confidence.
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