Reserves 0-1 Celtic

Last updated : 03 February 2009 By Stuart Gillespie
This was a strong Saints team, with Ally Love at leftback the only player not a member of the first team squad. The likes of Will Haining, Billy Mehmet and Gary Mason were all on display but none of them did anything to force themselves into Gus MacPherson's plans for Saturday's trip to Motherwell.

Celtic threatened inside the first minute when keeper Chris Smith did well to turn away a powerful shot, before Mizuno - who looked slightly offside - put them in front after 12 minutes. Saints continued to infuriate their own fans with some horrendous passing and a willingness to play the ball back to Smith, which continued throughout the afternoon.

Things improved slightly in the second half as Saints pushed forward a bit more, but Mehmet wasted the best chance when he just had keeper Mark Brown to beat but hit the post. From those positions he really should be scoring.

Realistically we could have suffered a heavy defeat due to some terrible errors from almost every player, but Celtic were pretty understrength and failed to take advantage. It really is worrying that this is what we have in reserve and makes it even more frustrating that we didn't strengthen yesterday.