St. Johnstone vs Celtic. Scottish Premiership.
McDiarmid ParkAttendance6,800.
Saturday 4 November 2017 21:39, UK
Celtic broke their own 100-year-old British record by stretching their unbeaten domestic run to 63 matches with a 4-0 victory over St Johnstone.
Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Olivier Ntcham were on target and Steven Anderson netted an own goal as Celtic strolled to three Scottish Premiership points and made more history in the process.
Willie Maley's side went 62 games unbeaten between 1915 and 1917, but Brendan Rodgers' outfit have now replaced them in the record books after dominating at McDiarmid Park
Saints were the last Scottish team to beat Celtic - on May 11, 2016 in Ronny Deila's penultimate match in charge - but this victory was as one-sided a game as Celtic have enjoyed during an 18-month spell of invincibility in Scottish football.
James Forrest, Dembele, Callum McGregor and Sinclair saw shots held by Zander Clark as Celtic pushed their hosts back and Sinclair almost got in following a one-two with Dembele.
The breakthrough looked inevitable and it came from a 28th-minute corner. Stuart Armstrong delivered a low ball into the heart of the penalty box and Sinclair read his intentions before firing a first-time strike into the roof of the net from 12 yards out.
Armstrong and McGregor came close with curling efforts and Saints' only first-half shot on target came from 35 yards out, Craig Gordon grasping Blair Alston's free-kick after initially looking troubled by the bounce.
There was no let-up after the break. Clark spilled shots from Kieran Tierney and McGregor but managed to gather, Forrest threatened twice and substitute Tom Rogic had a shot saved before Dedryck Boyata's header was cleared off the line by Aaron Comrie.
It was almost too easy for Celtic and they showed a bit of slackness to allow Richard Foster and Steven McLean decent openings, but they failed to make the most of them.
Celtic appeared to be stung into shifting gears and they did so quickly and effectively with two goals in three minutes.
Dembele put Saints on the back foot with a lovely flick to set Tierney racing down the left and the Frenchman was on hand to stab home in the 72nd minute after the overlapping Armstrong drove the ball across the six-yard box.
The striker then skipped past Comrie and aimed a cutback for Sinclair before seeing the ball hit off Anderson and trundle over the line as Celtic went three up with 15 minutes left.
And substitute Ntcham drove home from 20 yards in the 89th minute after a brilliant passing move to seal a record-breaking result.
