St Johnstone manager Callum Davidson paid triibute Celtic’s ‘brilliant’ ability from wide areas during the champions’ hard-fought 2-1 win at McDiarmid Park this weekend, speaking to Herald Scotland.
Never question Celtic’s quality. Never question their perseverance, their determination, their win-at-all-costs mentality.
And, as Sead Haksabanovic and Alexandro Bernabei grabbed their first assists on Scottish soil, it feels like the perfect moment to pay tribute to an excellent recruitment team too; excellent work on the training ground and in the boardroom laying the foundations for the most nerve-shredding of victories in Perth.
St Johnstone looked like they’d grabbed a point as Alex Mitchell converted from a set-piece three minutes into stoppage time. That was until Celtic went flying down the other end, Bernabei’s inch-perfect cross meat-and-drink to a centre-forward in Giakoumakis who has made close-range tap-ins his calling card.
Giorgios Giakoumakis scores winner as Celtic beat St Johnstone 2-1
“I’m gutted for the lads for not taking anything from the game,” sighs Davidson. “As I thought that was something we deserved. I’m just really annoyed at how we lost the last goal.
“In the first half I thought that tactically we were really good. I thought the boys worked unbelievably hard to stop Celtic.
“Celtic are brilliant at getting the ball in behind and firing balls across the face of goal and we tried to stop that. But we switched off in the 42nd minute. We conceded the own-goal and it was a really poor time to concede the goal.”
Giakoumakis’ 95th minute decider maintained Celtic’s two point lead at the top of the Premiership table, with an Antonio Colak-inspired Rangers thumping St Mirren 4-0 later in the day.
“I thought he did well,” Hoops boss Ange Postecoglou said of £3.75 million summer signing Bernabei; the left-back giving his hopes of a regular starting berth a timely shot in the arm with an injury-time assist.
“He got a bit tired towards the end. That’s his first game of football for quite a while, but he showed the attributes we find exciting in him.
“He takes the game on and is really aggressive with the ball and he defended everything. He is a young player we have got high hopes for.
“It’s not an easy venue to make your Premiership debut. It might have been easier to give him a game at home. But he handled it really well.”
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