Celtic vs St Mirren. Scottish Premiership.
Celtic ParkAttendance56,052.
Report and highlights as David Turnbull nets a hat-trick as Celtic beat St Mirren 6-0 at Parkhead; Liel Abada also nets twice before half-time, while Odsonne Edouard completes the scoring; St Mirren's Alan Power is sent off in the first half; Celtic go top of the Scottish Premiership
Sunday 22 August 2021 10:54, UK
Celtic laid down a marker to champions Rangers by beating 10-man St Mirren 6-0 at Parkhead, with David Turnbull scoring a hat-trick for the home side.
Liel Abada opened the scoring after 17 minutes, before Alan Power's sending-off made the visitors' task even harder, with Abada soon doubling Celtic's lead.
Thereafter it was a procession for Ange Postecoglou's team, with Turnbull netting twice more before half-time, before Odsonne Edouard got on the scoresheet just past the hour-mark.
And Turnbull completed his hat-trick with a close-range finish with six minutes to go as Celtic moved to the top of the Scottish Premiership ahead of Rangers' trip to Ross County on Sunday afternoon, while St Mirren stay second bottom.
The hosts knew a win against a St Mirren side missing manager Jim Goodwin due to Covid-19 would put pressure on arch-rivals Rangers, who travel to Ross County on Sunday, and that is what they did in emphatic style.
Even before they opened the scoring it was looking like being a long afternoon for visiting goalkeeper Jak Alnwick, who was soon picking the ball out of his net after being beaten by Abada's well-struck effort from the right edge of the area.
However, St Mirren knew the game was probably then up when two minutes later, Power needlessly hacked down Turnbull on the left touchline to leave William Collum little option but to show him a straight red card.
The impressive Abada headed in his second within just three minutes after good work down the left by Greg Taylor, before the contest turned into the Turnbull Show, with the Scotland international's first of the afternoon his best.
Picking up possession some 25 yards out, the midfielder cleverly turned his marker, before unleashing a swerving, dipping shot that curled past Alnwick and into the top righthand corner of the net.
The 22-year-old's second was far simpler as not for the first time in the match, Abada's pace saw him get free to the right byline and the Israel forward's cut-back was then pushed out by Alnwick straight to Turnbull, who could not miss from six yards out.
A rampant Celtic kept the pressure up after the break, perhaps already conscious of goal difference come the end of the season, with Edouard converting from close range - albeit at the second attempt - after good approach play down the left by Taylor and Kyogo Furuhashi.
However, on a day when Celtic announced the signing of Josip Juranovic, it was Turnbull who grabbed the headlines as his late strike completed a second consecutive 6-0 home win in the league for Postecoglou's side.
Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou: "Yeah, even before I arrived, David had an outstanding year last year. He has all the ingredients, physically, he works hard, great technique, good temperament.
"The challenge for David is not to put any limits on the player he can be and the levels he can reach.
"That is my role and the staff's role to keep pushing him.
"I think he gets frustrated by himself sometimes when he is not scoring or assisting but I think there is more to his game than that and once he adds those other things he will keep improving and where that takes him it will be up to him.
"You may say that I'm a little bit arrogant to say that we are going to improve after we won 6-0 but we are still at the beginning of what we are trying to build.
"There is definitely going to be challenges along the way, what happens after days like today and the run we are on, is that players get encouragement and they want more.
"It is my responsibility and the staff to keep pushing him [Turnbull] to levels and that's what it is all about, not to be complacent or satisfied with where you are at."
St Mirren assistant manager Lee Sharp: "Alan [Power] should possibly stay on his feet. He doesn't have to go to ground.
"But I've seen tackles like that given as yellow cards. A few moments later, [Ryan] Christie had one on [Ethan] Erhahon that was very similar on the far side.
"He wasn't even booked so you're just looking for it to be evened up.
"Big decisions went against us. At 2-0 down we were trying to get ourselves back in the game and we got a goal chalked off that was perfectly fine, onside.
"I'm not saying we would have got anything from the game but at 2-1, the boys would have got a lift and a bit more belief."
Not a difficult choice really, although Liel Abada certainly ran his team-mate close with an energetic display on the right side of Celtic's forward line.
However, Turnbull gets the nod for his impressive hat-trick that marks the youngster out as a player of a real promise after his move to Parkhead last summer.
And while two of his goals were simple enough, the Scotland midfielder's first was a thing of real beauty and in truth, he could have had more such was his ability to get into the right areas to shoot.
So Rangers, be warned ahead of next weekend's Old Firm clash...
Celtic travel to AZ Alkmaar on Thursday (7.15pm) for the second leg of their Europa League Qualifying first-round tie, leading 2-0 from the first leg, before taking on champions Rangers at Ibrox in the first Old Firm of the season on Sunday August 29, with the game live on Sky Sports Football from 11am.
Meanwhile, St Mirren face St Johnstone at The SMiSA Stadium a week on Sunday, with the Scottish Premiership clash kicking off at 3pm.
