St Johnstone 0-3 Celtic: Nadir Ciftci double downs Saints

Nadir Ciftci scored a double as Celtic beat a wasteful St Johnstone side 3-0 at McDiarmid Park.

The Turkish forward had not scored for the Glasgow side since October but struck either side of a Dedryck Boyata header to help his team extend their lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership to four points.

It was a disappointing result in the end for St Johnstone who saw Michael O'Halloran spurn two excellent chances in the first-half before Brian Easton struck the post after the break.

It means Celtic have taken 10 wins from 10 games immediately after European fixtures this season but, while it ended comfortably, the result could have been different had the home side been more clinical in front of goal. 

The hosts should have opened the scoring in the first minute when Steven MacLean released O'Halloran but the striker saw his effort pushed away by Craig Gordon as he was through on goal.

Liam Craig then went close from distance but his effort sailed over the bar before Celtic started to come into the game more. Tom Rogic's beautifully disguised pass on the edge of the box released Ciftci but his effort was pushed away by Alan Mannus in the St Johnstone goal.

St Johnstone's flow seemed to be disrupted when midfielder Chris Millar was forced off with a hamstring injury and Celtic took the lead just two minutes later.

Callum McGregor's corner sailed over a scrum in the St Johnstone box but was controlled with ease by Ciftci who did well to turn his body and set himself for the shot at pace before firing into the bottom corner from six yards.

It was nearly 2-0 just a few minutes later as Boyata met Stuart Armstrong's corner but his header was pushed away by Mannus, while Gordon was called into action again at the other end as Murray Davidson burst into the box and lashed his effort at the goalkeeper.

There was a bit of controversy on the stroke of half-time as the hosts passed up another golden chance to equalise.

O'Halloran broke clear of the Celtic backline, skipping over the challenge of Simunovic, who was lucky as the last man that he missed the striker, before he tried to curl his effort past Gordon but it went wide.

MacLean was then booked for a foul on Boyata although he appeared to miss both the ball and man as Saints players complained Simunovic should have been carded previously.

Celtic doubled their lead just three minutes into the second-half as Boyata out-muscled Saints skipper David Mackay to meet McGregor's corner with a powerful header.

The home side looked to get back into the game instantly as Brian Easton's effort from distance crashed off the post before Rogic had a great chance to seal the points after being picked out by Emilio Izaguirre but his finish was weak and well wide.

Celtic did eventually make sure of the win after 67 minutes, however, and Rogic was involved.

He released Mikael Lustig down the right and his cross picked out Ciftci who was completely unmarked and able to guide his header back across the diving Mannus and into the corner.