St Johnstone vs Celtic; Scottish Premiership
St Johnstone vs Celtic. Scottish Premiership.
McDiarmid Park.
St Johnstone 0-1 Celtic: Mika Baur nets first Hoops goal to make it six wins from six in the Scottish Premiership
Report as Celtic beat St Johnstone 1-0 at McDiarmid Park; Mika Baur scores his first Hoops goal to secure the victory; Martin O'Neill's side have won all six of their Scottish Premiership games this season
Wednesday 9 September 2026 23:00, UK
Mika Baur scored his first Celtic goal as they extended the winning start to their latest Scottish Premiership title defence to six games.
With a Europa League tie and an Old Firm cup and league double coming up, Martin O'Neill made five changes as Kasper Hogh returned from injury and Sam Johnstone took over in goal.
The on-loan keeper produced a huge save to deny Joel Cotterill - on his first St Johnstone start - as the hosts enjoyed the best of the chances.
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The defending champions did take the lead after the break as Baur tapped in from Haissem Hassan's cross. The Egypt international was later denied his first goal with the ball ruled out of play before Hogh sent it back in for him to score.
The Premiership newcomers were unbeaten at McDiarmid Park this season and had chances to take something, but the champions held on to stay five points clear of second-placed Rangers at the top of the table.
Although far from their convincing best, the Hoops did enough to close out their 13th win in a row in total stretching back to the closing weeks of last season.
O'Neill's men are now five points clear of second-placed Rangers, who they also face in their next Premiership match a week on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
The key moments from McDiarmid Park
5: SAVE! Hassan denied. A strong stop from the Saints goalkeeper, turning the ball past as Celtic push for an early opener.
19: BIG SAVE! Cotterill meets Alic's low cross. He looks certain to score but Johnstone palms over.
31: CLOSE! McGregor's shot is deflected past by Campbell. The corner comes in and Steward punches it clear.
40: CHANCE! Diabate's effort for the hosts is hooked off the line by Donovan.
44: BLOCK! A brilliant cross into the box from Tounekti is headed past by Diabate.
47: CHANCE! McAlear beats McGregor and sets up Steven, but his effort is straight at Celtic keeper Johnstone.
52: GOAL CELTIC! Baur taps in from Hassan's low cross for his first Celtic goal. He couldn't miss!
66: DISALLOWED! Celtic have the ball in the net but it won't stand. Hogh headed it back into Hassan to smash in, but it had gone out of play before he sent it in.
71: SAVE! Hogh lays the ball off to Hassan but his curling effort is pushed past by Steward.
77: SAVE! Brilliant from Forrest, denied by Steward. He twists and turns on the edge of the box before his effort is palmed away.
80: WIDE! Alic puts the ball just inches past the post.
83: CLOSE! Nygren finds Hogh. His shot comes in but Steward sends it out for a corner.
84: SAVE! Nygren meets Forrest's cross, but it's into Steward's arms.
Should Hassan's goal have stood?
Sky Sports' James McFadden:
"There's no way of telling and you have to go with the on-field decision.
"When it's the ball either in or out or over the line, you need definitive proof to tell the assistant that he's wrong. We don't have it here.
"We can say we think the ball stays in all we like. It doesn't matter. The assistant referee is along the line of the cross, he's determined it's out.
"There's no way that you can say the assistant is wrong. We can say we think he's wrong. There's no way we can say that he is.
"Therefore, there is not a chance that would have been overturned."
O'Neill: We made goalscoring almost impossible
Celtic manager Martin O'Neill speaking to Sky Sports:
"I'm not even sure what to make of the game. I think we made goalscoring, which is very difficult, almost impossible.
"We could have scored a number of goals, we didn't do. It was just kind of crazy, really.
"I thought that somebody would just take responsibility, put it in the net and pass, pass, pass.
"Anyway, we've won the game, which I'm delighted with. It was the most important thing. I'm just really pleased.
"We could have scored a number of goals. I thought St Johnstone were never out of the game.
"Even if we got the second goal, I never felt St Johnstone were out of it.
"I have to remember that Sam Johnstone's made a really great save in the first half. Otherwise, they would have taken the lead."
Valakari: We need to take our chances
St Johnstone manager Simo Valakari speaking to Sky Sports:
"We definitely had our moments, but at the same time we knew the threat of Celtic.
"We knew they maybe have a little bit more possession. They have this final-third threat there and then it was just a moment.
"The question, can we survive these moments? And when we get our own chance, can we take it? And we did not take it today.
"We know ourselves we can play. We can hurt teams.
"But then at the same time, you need to take these chances that we created because against this quality team, you don't get that many.
"But we created enough to score a goal and that's the kind of disappointment of this evening.
