Celtic’s Wounds Are Not Fatal, But The Break Is Coming At The Right Time.

That, last night, was the result that had been waiting for us.

I thought we would avoid it, with the resilience this team was showing, but the fact is that months of mounting injuries finally took their toll last night. The media is spinning this as some kind of moral victory for St Mirren; in fact, we had more first team players missing than they did and no-one in the media cares.

Don’t get me wrong, we had enough on the pitch last night that we should have taken care of them, but it’s a fact that we were missing a recognised striker, that our two best wide players are out and that our most creative midfielder was missing.

This is a team on the bones of its arse, and the makeshift solutions aren’t getting the job done.

Mikey Johnson is the case in point; he looks miles off what a Celtic player should be.

I love watching this guy when he’s part of a team playing well, but he lacks the mentality to be a match-winner.

You know what I mean. He can breeze around the pitch when the weight of responsibility isn’t on his shoulders but he will never step up on a night when it’s all on the line.

He’s a luxury player, and we need guys who can grind it out.

The St Johnstone game is now a major worry.

Had we won last night I would be less queasy about the bottom club in the table, but we can’t take anything for granted now.

I’ll be relieved with a single goal win to take us into the three week break.

And that break is coming at the right time.

None of us wanted this – and let’s be clear on that – but for once the global situation might have done us a big favour. This team needs some time to recharge the batteries. Players need an opportunity to get fit.

New signings need to be brought in, giving us new options. That opportunity is there now.

By God, we need to seize it. We need to beat St Johnstone with whatever warm bodies are available to us. We need to get past that final game and into that break no further behind. Do that, and we have time and space to breath. A lot can happen in those three weeks.

I expect a lot to happen. On both sides of the city.

There are new considerations for the club across town, new factors to ponder and worry about.

Believe me when I tell you that they would have swapped the two points from last night for the chance to take to take on a depleted Celtic at Parkhead in front of no fans.

That game behind them, with a seven-point lead, they’d have seen the end in sight, although there’s a long way to go.

Instead the lead is six, and that game still looms.

There is no guarantee that their squad will be intact. Ours will be, and stronger. And there’s stuff on their horizon which makes every decision they make fraught with peril. This isn’t over by a long way.

So although this isn’t an ideal situation, if we get by St Johnstone the extended break, and the way that game is rescheduled might be the best thing to happen to us.

Our injury crisis is sufficiently serious that if there were three games left, including theirs, we’d be in real trouble and there would be major reasons for concern.

Last night looks bad on paper.

But overall, yesterday might just be the day our luck – lousy for the whole of this year – started to turn.

Just in the nick of time.