This was a superb performance from Saints. The defence was solid, the midfield battled away and the strikers worked with what little they had. Celtic had laid siege to our goal but it looked as if we would hold out until, in stoppage time, Gary Hooper scored the decisive goal. It was a horrific way to lose a game of football and we can only hope the players recover in time for Saturday's game against Motherwell.
As the season goes on Danny Lennon seems to be getting a better idea of his favoured side and the only two changes to Wednesday's team were enforced, with Hugh Murray injured and Paul McGowan not allowed to play. As a result, Sean Lynch and - surprisingly - Kenny McLean came in, with Aaron Mooy having to settle for a place on the bench. He was joined there by Steven Thomson and David Barron, both making their long awaited returns from injury. Celtic had to make do without Joe Ledley, who was suspended, and there was no sign of Georgios Samaras, who is usually rubbish against us. However, Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes both bagged hat-tricks against us a week ago and were once again paired together up front. After all the controversy during the week, it is worth noting the minute's silence was impeccably observed by both sets of fans.
To say the first half of the first half was dire would be an understatement. Michael Higdon tried a hit and hope effort from the halfway line that predictably went wide, while Celtic's Emilio Izaguirre was being given far too much space on the left but thankfully did little with it. In light of recent events every decision that went against Celtic was met with outrage from the visiting fans and cries of "It's a conspiracy" from the home support. One such decision gave Saints a free-kick that McLean put into the wall. As Gareth Wardlaw went for the rebound Fraser Forster punched it away to Marc McAusland at the edge of the box. It was a chance, but in fairness Cheesy wasn't expecting it and the ball bobbled under his foot.
Celtic weren't creating much, despite comfortably winning the possession stakes, before Anthony Stokes nodded a Shaun Maloney header over the bar. The Celtic fans were then annoyed again when referee Iain Brines decided to go against his linesman and give Saints a throw in. They were still whining when John Potter fouled Maloney and began moaning again when he was only booked. They may have had a point on this occasion as some referees may have deemed it a goal scoring opportunity. Fortunately there was no further punishment as Maloney's free-kick was poor.
The Celtic defence were having a fairly quiet afternoon although did look shaky on the few occasions they had to do something. One of those was when McLean burst forward and was able to comfortably breeze past a few players, however he chose to pass to the offside Darren McGregor rather than try a shot. At the other end, Cha headed over before Ki shot at Samson from 30 yards. That was about it for the first half - all rather similar to the start of last Sunday's game.
Remember that effort Higdon had at the start of the first half? Well, he tried it again at the start of the second - and it nearly worked. This time he was midway inside the Celtic half before unleashing a thunderbolt that cannoned off the bar before bouncing to safety. It had the Saints support on their feet and suddenly the players were getting in and about Celtic, Jure Travner and McLean in particular starting to show a bit of bite. Maloney curled a shot just off target before Stokes, who had done nothing, was replaced with Daryl Murphy. No sooner had he arrived than he'd already done more than Stokes, some slack defending allowing him to knock the ball on for Hooper, whose header was well saved by Samson.
Neil Lennon decided another change was required and put Niall McGinn on for Cha. He was in the mix immediately, racing down the right before firing in a cross that David van Zanten missed at the back post. It left Maloney free, but somehow he managed to put his shot out for a throw in. Bizarrely, Mr Brines decided there was no way a Celtic player could produce such a bad shot on his own and decided it had deflected, giving them a throw in. It came to nothing and Saints were able to break, Lynch playing it out to Wardlaw who charged forward before letting fly with a shot that Forster just got his fingers to at the expense of a corner.
However, Celtic were clearly in the ascendancy and should have been in front when McGinn standing a cross up at the backpost that Murphy somehow headed into the side netting. McGinn then had a shot blocked by Samson after the ball bounced kindly for him before Lynch, who had put in a decent display, was replaced by the fit again Steven Thomson. It didn't change the flow towards goal as Hooper poked a shot wide while under a challenge from Potter. The final Celtic change saw Efrain Juarez replaced by Paddy McCourt before Ki slipped a brilliant ball through to McGinn and it looked certain he would give Celtic the lead, but his shot was brilliantly saved by Samson.
Higdon and Wardlaw were getting a bit lonely up front but a rare opportunity fell to Higdon from distance, who shot just wide. He was then left even more lonely when Wardlaw was replaced by David Barron in a bid to tighten up at the back. It worked for a bit, before Murphy was given too much space and time to get to a header that he glanced wide. Barron then played his part at the other end, flicking the ball on for Higdon whose volley was good but always drifting wide.
So, you know the script by now. A wee diddy team looks like they're going to cling on for a result against one of the Old Firm then get it snatched away. And, with 90 seconds left, it happened. McCourt drifted to the byline and back, passed to Hooper and while his original shot was blocked by Potter, the ball fell back to him and he prodded it into the net. Heartbreak for us, joy for the Celtic fans who were ridiculous in their celebrations. For some reason they felt the need to burst on to the track to join their heroes. Hooper was rightly booked, while Saints will hopefully be billing Celtic for the damage to an advertising hoarding.
Saints launched a wee rally, forcing a corner, but it was never going to come to something. Instead, we had suffered the ultimate heartbreak after a terrific performance from every player and lost what could be a priceless point. Celtic deserved to win, but I'd rather we hadn't lost like that.