Celtic have come through a difficult match away to St Johnstone to maintain their eight-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The McDiarmid Park outfit opened the scoring in Perth during today’s early kick-off but goals from Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and James Forrest powered the Bhoys to a 3-1 victory.
It came ahead of Rangers picking up their own Sunday win at home to St Mirren, highlighting the importance of coming back to secure all three points against St Johnstone.
Captain McGregor and Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers were quick to praise substitute Mikey Johnston in the aftermath, feeling he was one of the players to change the game after a poor first-half display from the team.
Mikey Johnston gets Celtic plaudits
Rodgers told BBC Radio Scotland: “I thought he was outstanding when he came into the game. Just that brightness, looking after the ball, taking people on.
“I think with Mikey, if he can understand the team side of the game and the pressing element, he can be a fantastic player for us. You see in one vs one duels, he’s bright, he’s so fast. He was excellent. He gave us a great bit of impetus in the second half.”
Meanwhile, McGregor said in a post-match interview on Sky Sports: “He was outstanding and he’s been training like that for a while. It’s brilliant to see him getting back in, he made a huge contribution and gave us a different dynamic as well.
“His quality on the ball and his running is everything we want from a winger so I’m really delighted for him and you just keep going now.”
Today was only Johnston’s fourth game of the season and all of them have come as a substitute. He is surely now in line to start against Hibernian on Wednesday night.
Pre-match, Rodgers challenged the winger to do his talking on the pitch and he delivered today.
The performance of Hyunjun Yang raised serious eyebrows today and Celtic can’t afford to have a starter produce that kind of display again at such a critical time of the season.
The smart move would be capitalising on the Republic of Ireland international’s obvious confidence and let him show what he can do when included in the starting eleven. It’s time for his opportunity with Daizen Maeda and Liel Abada still out injured.
In other news, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers makes his relationship with Dermot Desmond clear.
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