Yang Hyun-jun Shines as Celtic Overcomes St Mirren

Celtic will lose Yang Hyun-jun to international duty this week. They’ll miss him. Nights like this showed exactly why.

The 24-year-old South Korean winger struck the winner in Paisley, his second goal in as many games, as Celtic came from behind to beat St Mirren 2-1 in a breathless contest that could easily have gone the other way.

Now he’s on a plane to Japan for the Asian Games. Celtic are left to juggle without him for a run that includes a midweek trip to St Johnstone, two Old Firm clashes with Rangers and a Europa League opener against Ferencvaros.

Martin O’Neill didn’t try to play that down.

"We are going to miss him. He’s in really fine form at the moment," the Celtic manager said, before cutting straight to the wider stakes for his player. "If they don’t win the tournament, then he has to do (national) service. I hope they do win it.

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

St Mirren strike first, and strike hard

For 45 minutes, St Mirren flirted with the top of the William Hill Premiership – and deserved to.

Craig McLeish’s side went at Celtic with ambition and accuracy, pressing high, playing out from the back and refusing to be cowed by the champions’ possession. The reward came midway through the first half.

Liam Scales handled in the box, Nikolas Agrafiotis stepped up, and from the penalty spot he buried his effort to give Saints a lead that sent a jolt through the away end.

Celtic wobbled. O’Neill admitted it.

"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 didn’t just sit on it. They kept coming. They racked up 19 shots on target across the evening, repeatedly testing Celtic’s defensive organisation and nerve. At half-time, with Saints on course to go top, the story felt like it might be about a statement win in Paisley.

Then Celtic came back out.

Scales responds, Yang delivers

Whatever was said in that away dressing room worked.

Celtic returned with sharper movement, quicker passing and a far more aggressive edge. The renewed intent showed on the scoreboard just six minutes after the restart.

Scales, at fault for the penalty, made amends. The Irish defender rose to meet a cross and powered in the equaliser, dragging Celtic level and shifting the mood of the entire stadium.

The game opened up. St Mirren kept playing, kept pressing, but space began to appear, and that’s where Yang thrives.

Midway through the second half, Celtic sprang forward on the counter. Camilo Duran snapped into a challenge, dispossessing Ryan Carr 10 yards inside the Celtic half. In a heartbeat, the move turned from danger to opportunity.

The ball broke, Celtic surged, and Yang finished the move with the composure of a player who knows exactly where the net is right now. One chance, one clean strike, and the champions were in front.

Yang later left the pitch with an ice pack strapped to his leg, a small scare on a big night. O’Neill quickly moved to calm any panic.

"He’s OK," the manager said. "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."

Brave St Mirren left with nothing

The goal might have broken some teams. It didn’t break St Mirren.

McLeish’s players stuck to their plan: play out, keep the ball, take risks. It brought them trouble at times – including for Yang’s winner – but it also carved out chances that, on another night, would have earned at least a point.

"I thought there were so many good parts about our play," McLeish said. "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."

He wasn’t about to criticise his players for doing what he asks of them.

"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.

"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.

"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."

O’Neill could relate to that sense of how fine the margins were. "We came out with renewed energy, renewed determination in the second half, got the equalising goal and went on to win it. But it was a tough evening for us."

Tough, but vital. Celtic leave Paisley with three points and a forward in electric form. Now they have to face the next, defining stretch of their season without him.