Celtic score three first half goals to beat St Johnstone in Premiership clash

Celtic continued their relentless pursuit of the Premiership title with a 4-1 victory over St Johnstone in Perth on Sunday.

Portuguese winger Jota was the star man as the league leaders regained their nine point lead over Rangers at the top of the table.

Aaron Mooy also put in another impressive performance for the Hoops and Kyogo Furuhashi scored his 22nd goal of the season.

Four goals were packed into 30 first half minutes as Ange Postecoglou’s men swept the home side away at McDiarmid Park before a late David Turnbull strike sealed the win right at the end.

Celtic took the lead when Kyogo’s cross was turned into the net by St Johnstone defender Andrew Considine on his 600th club appearance.

The Japanese forward made it 2-0 soon with a typically clinical close-range finish after latching on to a cross from Jota.

But just when the game looked as if it was in danger of running away from the home side Drey Wright smashed a long range finish past Joe Hart to make 2-1 on the 25th minute.

The goal was the first conceded by Celtic since the 2-2 draw at Ibrox on January 2.

Jota was involved again for number three when the 23-year-old floated a chipped pass into the path of Aaron Mooy who lobbed it over Remi Matthews to restore the visitors’ two goal lead before half time.

And the former Benfica star started the second half as he ended the first and he nearly put Celtic out of sight when his shot clipped the top of the cross bar.

Considine’s nightmare day was complete when he was shown a red-card in injury time for pulling down Oh who was through on goal.

Turnbull then scored from the resulting free-kick to put the icing on the cake for the travelling support.

It’s St Mirren in the Scottish Cup next for the Hoops as St Johnstone, who are eighth in the Premiership, have a two-week break before their next game against Dundee United at Tannadice.