🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Celtic maintain the gap with impressive win in Perth | OneFootball

Celtic maintained the status quo at the top of the Scottish Premiership, continuing their relentless run with victory at St Johnstone on Sunday afternoon.

Scorers: Wright 25′; Considine OG 13′, Kyogo 22′, Mooy 38′, Turnbull 90+3′

Celtic took the lead on 13 minutes and from the second time in this fixture this season, they opened the scoring at McDiarmid Park thanks to an Andy Considine own goal, with the defender turning a cross from Kyogo into his own net on the 600th appearance of his club career.

On 22 minutes, Kyogo then got among the goals himself with his 22nd of the season, benefiting from good work down the right by Jota and hesitancy from Considine to take a touch in the area and slam home.

Within minutes though, the Saints pulled one back when Reo Hatate lost possession and Drey Wright blasted a speculative effort from range at goal which was a fine effort from the defender but one Joe Hart should have dealt with better, having gotten a big hand on it.

But the two-goal advantage was soon re-established when Aaron Mooy continued his purple patch, deftly clipping over the goalkeeper with a delightful finish after Jota found him with an equally impressive scoop over the defence for his sixth goal in his last 10 games.

Celtic emerged from the break determined to add to their lead and Jota came close when he curled a dipping left-footed effort off the top of the crossbar, while Liel Abada was guilty of several moments of wastefulness as the Hoops had to be content with three.

Considine’s miserable afternoon was capped off in injury time when he was sent off for dragging Hyeon-gyu Oh down as he charged towards what looked set to be a certain first Celtic goal and from the resulting free-kick, substitute David Turnbull drilled a daisy-cutter into the corner from the lay-off – which was finally awarded after a lengthy VAR check.

The win sees the Hoops re-establish their nine-point advantage at the top ahead of welcoming St Mirren to Parkhead next weekend.