Celtic Breakthrough Against St Johnstone; Rangers Struggle at Ibrox

Celtic Find Their Edge as Rangers Toil in Tense Night of Missed Chances

Celtic’s Patience Pays Off in Perth

At McDiarmid Park, Celtic finally cracked a stubborn St Johnstone wall, and it was Mika Baur who stepped into the spotlight.

For long spells, it felt like the familiar story: Celtic with the ball, St Johnstone with the bodies. Callum McGregor tried to seize control, drifting to the edge of the box and pulling the trigger, but his effort lacked conviction and looped tamely into the gloves of Toby Steward. It summed up Celtic’s frustration to that point – plenty of intent, not enough incision.

The pressure kept building. Former St Johnstone boss Callum Davidson could see it coming. He spoke of the home side needing to “hold on in this little period” as Celtic started to pin them back. They couldn’t. The dam finally burst.

Haissem Hassan provided the spark. Driving into space and picking his moment, he whipped a low ball across the face of goal. Celtic flooded the box this time, exactly as Pat Bonner would later point out. Kasper Hogh threw himself at it, desperate to make contact, but it was Baur who arrived in the right place, at the right time.

One clean touch. A simple tap-in, but a huge moment – his first Celtic goal, and the breakthrough his side had been hunting.

“There Baur was and all he had to do was get a good contact,” Bonner said on BBC Sportsound. That was the difference: numbers in the area, conviction in the finish. St Johnstone had resisted for so long, but when Celtic finally committed bodies forward with real purpose, they were carved open.

Rangers Rocked by St Mirren Threat

Across the country, Ibrox crackled, then crackled with something else entirely.

Rangers and St Mirren were locked at 0-0, but the scoreline didn’t tell the whole story. The home crowd tried to drive their team on, voices rising as Rangers pushed up the pitch. Then came the mistakes. A loose pass in their own third, possession coughed up cheaply, and the mood snapped from backing to bristling in an instant.

This was not control. This was a contest that could tilt either way.

St Mirren sensed it. They grew into the second half, and former Rangers and St Mirren striker Rory Loy saw the shift clearly. The visitors, he said, looked “far more comfortable,” while the rumblings from the stands grew louder. Rangers had shuffled back into a 4-2-3-1 shape with Kim and Curtis on, but the structure didn’t bring calm.

Then came the moment that should have changed the night.

A clever third-man run from Fraser Taylor sliced Rangers open. One pass, and the entire home defence was gone, taken out in a single movement. None of the Rangers players reacted. Taylor was straight through, the kind of chance forwards dream about.

He had time. Maybe too much.

Bearing down on goal, he had the freedom to pick his spot, to settle himself, to make it count. Instead, Ivor Pandur held his ground, stayed almost on his line, and made the save. A glorious opportunity, gone. “He has to put his team 1-0 up,” Loy said, the disbelief obvious. St Mirren, he added, would not get a better chance.

The miss left the game hanging in the balance and the tension inside Ibrox thickened. The fans knew how close their side had come to falling behind. St Mirren knew it too.

On a night when Celtic finally found a way, Rangers were left living dangerously, still searching for the kind of ruthless edge that turns edgy evenings into routine wins.