Second-half goals from Cameron Carter-Vickers and captain Callum McGregor saw Celtic cruise past St Mirren 2-0 at Parkhead to maintain their three-point lead over champions Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.

After a frustrating opening 45 minutes in Glasgow, the home team finally took a deserved lead 10 minutes after half-time when Carter-Vickers smashed home from close range after the visitors failed to clear a free-kick.

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McGregor's low drive from the edge of the box then confirmed Celtic's victory with nine minutes to go as Ange Postecoglou's side stayed ahead of Rangers with now just nine matches left this season.

How Celtic stayed top of the table

Postecoglou had warned the leaders would face a tough contest in every game of the run-in with every team in the league playing for something, and St Mirren provided just that.

Ahead of the game, only Celtic had collected more Premiership points than St Mirren in 2022, despite the Buddies playing one less game than most of the division.

Celtic were again without Giorgos Giakoumakis, who was absent for the goalless draw with Hibernian on Sunday through illness, and they missed his penalty-box presence at times.

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson lined up with five defenders with the added protection of Alan Power and Alex Gogic in central midfield. Greg Kiltie and Jordan Jones were tasked with supporting lone striker Curtis Main when they were not tied up with defensive duties themselves.

St Mirren had an early let-off when Charles Dunne sliced a clearance off his own bar following a cross from Jota.

The Portuguese winger soon provided two decent chances from the left. Liel Abada's side-footed effort was parried by Jak Alnwick and Josip Juranovic was too high with a fierce first-time effort from just outside the box.

Richard Tait's low cross caused some danger at the other end but Joe Hart ultimately dealt with it.

Celtic's best first-half chance came from a set-piece. Daizen Maeda peeled off the goalkeeper to meet Matt O'Riley's inswinging free-kick but headed well wide.

There were clear signs of restlessness in the home support and clear-cut chances proved elusive in the final stages of the half.

Both Maeda and Jota headed off target with their backs to goal and Alnwick made a meal of parrying the latter's curling effort.

The frustration was even more audible just after the break when Celtic lost possession from a short corner and McGregor was forced into taking a booking to stop Jones breaking.

A more direct set-piece soon led to the opener. Jota delivered from the right after being fouled by Scott Tanser and Carl Starfelt got the first contact before Carter-Vickers volleyed home from inside the six-yard box.

Postecoglou brought on the likes of Tom Rogic and James Forrest and Celtic continued to play the majority of the game in St Mirren's half without boasting their maximum fluency.

The cushion came after a good break down the right from Juranovic, whose cross ultimately fell for McGregor to fire into the far corner from 14 yards.

Postecoglou brought on Karamoko Dembele in the closing stages for the attacker's first appearance since fracturing an ankle in pre-season.

Postecoglou pleased as Celtic keep calm in nervy Parkhead to beat St Mirren

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou:

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"I'm pleased players kept their focus. It was another game where we had a lot of the ball, they sat very deep and it could have been easy for us to get anxious and look for different things to do.

"But we said at some point in the second half they will tire or lose some concentration and we just need to stay on it. I thought we did and we controlled the game really well. I don't think they had a chance on goal.

"I was pleased with the players' focus. It's a big part of it now. That's what it's all about at this stage of the season, keeping focused and not getting distracted by noise or other emotions that might be shown by people outside.

"We have been pretty good at that to be fair, there's only been a couple of games where we have been really frustrated.

"I sensed that, even though we didn't get the early goal, we were in control and they didn't really have a threat going the other way, so it was just a matter of continually probing and waiting for our opportunity."

Robinson: They created minimal chances up until the goal

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson:

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"They had a lot of possession in front of us but I thought defensively we were excellent, really, really well organised.

"They created minimal chances up until the goal.

"The frustrating thing was it was two ricochets in the box, one that fell to them and the second one comes off Conor McCarthy's face and lands straight to Callum McGregor.

"If you are going to come to Celtic Park and lose it's usually a 30-yard wonder goal or a bit of combination play.

"We didn't land on the ball and play often enough, we can be braver on the ball and that's the big thing I have learned out of the last two games and something we have to be better at."

What's next?

Celtic will return to Scottish Premiership action on Sunday at 12pm as they travel to face Livingston, live on Sky Sports.

St Mirren will next face Ross County in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday at 3pm.

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