Celtic's Comeback Win Over St Mirren Despite Yang's Departure

Celtic walked out of Paisley with three points, a comeback win and a nagging problem. They are about to lose the man who decided it.

Yang Hyun-jun, electric again on the right flank, struck the winner in a 2-1 victory over St Mirren, then packed his bags for Japan and the Asian Games. Martin O’Neill knows exactly what that means.

"We are going to miss him. He’s in really fine form at the moment," the Celtic manager admitted, half delighted, half resigned. "If they don’t win the tournament, then he has to do (national) service. I hope they do win it."

From trouble to turnaround

For 45 minutes, Celtic flirted with a damaging defeat. St Mirren, aggressive and front-foot, were on course to go top of the William Hill Premiership at the break and played like a side that believed it.

The hosts struck first. Midway through the opening half, a Liam Scales handball gave Nikolas Agrafiotis the chance from the spot. He buried it, and Celtic sagged. O’Neill didn’t sugar-coat that spell.

"They played very, very well indeed," he said. "Caused us plenty of problems and took the lead. A 10 or 15-minute spell in the first half where I thought we were well and truly second best."

St Mirren’s intent showed in the numbers. Nineteen shots on target told their story of pressure, territory and belief. Celtic, by contrast, looked ragged and short of control.

The restart changed everything.

Celtic came out sharper, angrier, and with a clear decision to impose themselves. The pressure soon told. Six minutes into the second half, the man who had conceded the penalty dragged them level. Scales rose to meet a cross and powered in the equaliser, an emphatic response to his earlier mistake.

"We came out with renewed energy, renewed determination in the second half, got the equalising goal and went on to win it," O’Neill said. "But it was a tough evening for us."

Yang’s decisive farewell – for now

With the game stretched and St Mirren still committed to their possession game, the space Yang craves began to open up. The decisive moment came from that very risk.

Camilo Duran robbed Ryan Carr 10 yards inside the Celtic half and suddenly green and white shirts were streaming forward. Yang, timing his run and finish, delivered again, scoring for the second game in a row on the counter-attack midway through the second half.

"But he’s signed off with a brilliant goal," O’Neill said. "He’s in great form and he’ll work for you going backwards. He doesn’t mind doing the hard graft."

The 24-year-old left the pitch with an ice pack strapped to his leg, a brief scare on a night that already carried enough anxiety about his departure. O’Neill moved quickly to calm any fears.

"He’s OK. If he’d got up a little bit earlier, I think maybe we might have continued with him. But he looked shaken up a bit, so we took him off."

Celtic will now have to cope without him for the midweek trip to St Johnstone, two Old Firm clashes with Rangers and the Europa League opener against Ferencvaros. For a player just hitting his stride, the timing is brutal.

St Mirren’s brave new identity

On the other side, there was frustration, but not deflation. St Mirren head coach Craig McLeish saw more than a narrow defeat; he saw confirmation that his side’s evolving style can trouble the champions.

"I thought there were so many good parts about our play," McLeish said. His only real gripe lay in the moments that cost them.

"Probably the little bit of frustration was when we were a wee bit loose in possession. The first half, Celtic’s chances come from us giving the ball away at times when we should be more secure on it.

"And then even the second goal, that comes from us not being secure on the ball."

That second goal, born from Carr losing it deep in Celtic territory, underlined the risk that comes with a possession-based approach. McLeish, though, refused to turn on his players.

"We can’t then turn round and have a pop at the boys for that. We’re asking them to play, we’re asking them to be brave on the ball. We just need to keep doing it better at times, we need to keep building on it."

Even at 2-1 down, St Mirren kept coming. They carved out chances, pinned Celtic back and, for a spell, looked the likelier scorers.

"Throughout the night we carried a threat. Even when we go 2-1 down, we show so much bravery and personality to keep going and keep playing," McLeish said. "We probably have our strongest spell of the game and create some really good chances, probably unlucky not to take one of them.

"It probably shows where we’re at: we’re so disappointed with not coming away with anything."

Celtic escaped with the win, but leave Paisley minus their in-form winger and staring at a run of season-shaping fixtures. Yang has done his part. The question now is whether Celtic can cope without him when the stakes rise again.