Cameron Carter-Vickers and Celtic made a huge statement about their title aspirations as they gave a thrashing to St. Johnstone in the latest round of action in the Scottish Premiership.
Celtic 7-0 St. Johnstone
Celtic put on a clinic as they ran rampant over St. Johnstone at Celtic Park to secure the win and march closer to regaining the Premiership title.
Cameron Carter-Vickers had another strong outing for the Hoops, completing 95 percent of his passes and winning four duels.
The hosts jumped out to the lead after eight minutes of play when Reo Hatate slotted a shot home following a pass from Greg Taylor. Giorgos Giakoumakis doubled their lead 15 minutes later with a shot from a difficult angle.
Daizen Maeda scored Celtic’s third in the 36th minute when he headed in a cross from Jota.
Celtic kept the momentum in the second half as they were awarded a penalty. Thomas Sang brought down Hatate in the area, allowing Josip Juranovic to step up and put away the spot-kick in the 52nd minute.
St. Johnstone was totally outclassed by the Glasgow side as they went on to score three more goals in the span of eight minutes.
Matthew O’Riley headed in a shot in the 70th minute followed by another from him three minutes later. Liel Abada put the game to bed in the 78th minute with a strike.
Celtic remains atop of the standings with 82 points.
Rangers 4-0 St. Mirren
Rangers went on a tear to secure the shutout win over St. Mirren at the SMISA Stadium to keep the pressure on their crosstown rivals in the league title race.
James Sands came off the bench to play the entire second half, completing 88 percent of his passes and winning two duels.
The Blues opened the scoring after two minutes through Kemar Roofe as he headed in a cross from Ryan Kent. The Englishman followed that up with his second goal on the day in first-half stoppage time with another header. This time the service came from James Tavernier.
Roofe completed his hat-trick after five minutes of play in the second half as he blasted the loose ball into the back of the net.
Joe Ayodele-Aribo completed the scoring for Rangers in the 76th minute with a scintillating curled shot from outside the area.
The win keeps Rangers in second place in the standings with 76 points, six behind Celtic
Notes
In other Scottish Premiership action, Christian Ramirez played the full 90 while Dante Polvara watched on from the bench as Aberdeen fell in a 1-0 defeat to Ross County.
Christopher Mueller went the distance for Hibernian in their 3-1 loss to Hearts.
Joe Efford played 67 minutes for Motherwell while Sebastian Soto came on to play the final five minutes for Livingston in a thrilling 2-2 draw.
Down in League Two, Brian Schwake was between the posts and recorded a shutout in Edinburgh City’s 2-0 win over Forfar Athletic.
Andrew Barrowman played 76 minutes and scored a goal for Cowdenbeath in their 3-2 win over Annan Athletic.
