Stephen Robinson reckons Celtic showed 'their class' in St Mirren cruise

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Stephen Robinson insists Celtic showed their class yesterday by keeping it simple as St Mirren were defeated in the deluge.

The Buddies have now recorded back-to-back Premiership defeats after the Hoops seized the initiative at the SMiSA Stadium.

Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate had the reigning champions 2-0 up and cruising at the break. A goal from Alistair Johnston wrapped it up in the second half.

Paisley gaffer Robbo admitted the performance of his team was nowhere near good enough. However, he praised Celtic’s approach as Brendan Rodgers’ side bossed proceedings by doing the basics well.

“I think the credit goes to Celtic,” he said. “It was a horrible day and they came and did the dirty bits – players are all shouting, picking up second balls and that’s what maybe people don’t see about good teams.

“They do the simple things well and we didn’t do that. Were we at our best? Not at all and we have to be better than that. We certainly didn’t carry out the game plan and implement it anywhere near where we wanted to.

“Game plans don’t really matter if you don’t land on the ball or go out and do the simple things. The [opening] goal knocks you into the worst possible start.

“The message at half-time was to be a bit more aggressive and put more pressure on the ball. We were very passive in the first half.”

Saints are still returning to normality following an intense start to the season which has seen the club balance domestic football with the demands of the UEFA Conference League.

Robbo knows a Euro repeat will only be achieved by matching, if not bettering, last season’s efforts and said: “We’ve enjoyed all the things that have came our way in terms of the European experience and we worked very hard last season to do that. But the only way to have that again is to win games in the league.”

Injuries have been another headache for the Buddies who were missing Caolan Boyd-Munce and Dennis Adeniran yesterday along with long-term crocks Greg Kiltie and Conor McMenamin.

New signing Killian Phillips was thrown straight into the starting line-up while Mark O’Hara was a surprise return.

The manager said: “We have a full week to prepare and we’re hoping to have a lot more people back for the Dundee game [next Saturday].

“We are struggling in midfield a little bit. Killian in an ideal world wouldn’t have played and Mark, I wouldn’t have rushed back so quickly. But there’s no excuses – we just have to get on with it.”

Delighted Celtic manager Rodgers said: “I think the attitude in the conditions was good. There was lots of great play and we had good control of the game. We started the game well and had good connections all the way through the team.

“We scored three really good goals, played the system really well and kept a clean sheet. We got into good areas and the third goal was really important to us. Everyone will tell you that 2-0 can be a dangerous scoreline.”

■ St Mirren will face Hearts at the SMiSA Stadium on Saturday, September 21 in a Premiership match brought forward from Wednesday, December 4.

It had been a free weekend but, with both clubs knocked out of the Premier Sports Cup, they have decided to make good use of it.

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