Celtic began the defence of their title with a contentious 1-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead.
Robson hits decisive penalty after Haining sees red
Celtic began the defence of their SPL title with a contentious 1-0 win over St Mirren at Parkhead.
Barry Robson fired home the only goal of the contest after St Mirren defender Will Haining was shown the red card for pulling back Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
However, both players appeared to have a brief hold of each other, with Haining unfortunate to be dismissed.
New signing Marc Crosas was paraded before the Celtic faithful prior to a desperate first half.
Lack of tempo
Garry Brady drilled in the first shot in anger as St Mirren forced Celtic keeper Artur Boruc into a comfortable save at his near post inside the opening minute.
Celtic bossed possession during the first period, but were unable to move forward with any great tempo and failed to test Buddies keeper Mark Howard.
The best chance of the first half fell to Scott McDonald on 27 minutes, with the striker heading Andreas Hinkel's cross over when found unmarked just inside the penalty area.
After the break, the visitors almost snatched a shock lead when Stephen O'Donnell teed up Billy Mehmet and the lone striker's shot was superbly pushed on to the post by Boruc.
The Bhoys responded and Gary Caldwell headed Lee Naylor's free-kick straight at Howard when under pressure at the back post.
Breakthrough
The breakthrough arrived just past the hour mark when Haining was adjudged to have held back Vennegoor of Hesselink before the Dutch forward poked his shot wide of the upright.
From the resultant penalty, Robson's attempt clattered off the legs of Howard and had just enough power to bounce over the line.
St Mirren responded positively, with O'Donnell flashing a volley from a narrow angle wide before Vennegoor of Hesselink headed off target after the ball had ricocheted into his path.
Celtic saw out the closing stages with no alarms as Gordon Strachan's side collected the three points against a well-organised Buddies outfit.
