Celtic 1 St Mirren 0 as it happened – Martin O’Neill’s men hold on to go second in the Premiership

Champions Celtic maintained the title pressure on Hearts after a narrow win over St Mirren.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made the difference for Martin O’Neill‘s men despite a disappointing display – as the win over the Buddies was enough to move the Hoops about Rangers and into second.

Hearts fought back from a goal down to Motherwell to maintain their lead over Celtic at the summit.

Despite the win, St Mirren can take plenty of credit from the game. Craig McLeish has vowed to make himself impossible for club chiefs to ignore when it comes to appointing a permanent boss, and defeat won’t have done his care any harm.

Despite a good display, a 2-0 win for Aberdeen over Hibs moved the Paisley side down to 11th in the table.

Celtic: Sinisalo, Ralston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, Nygren, Oxlade-Chamberlain, McGregor, Yang, Cvancara, Maeda.

Subs: Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Tounekti, Engels, Saracchi, Hatate, Arthur, Forrest.

St Mirren: George, Gogic, Freckleton,Donnelly, O’Hara, Campbell, Phillips, Devaney, John, Ayunga, Mandron.

Subs: Mullen, Richardson, King, Tanswe, Idowu, McMenamin, Douglas, Etete. Young.