One more game left for Celtic in the Scottish Cup Final at Hampden. A treble is also on the line and Celtic will be favourites to sign off with a win after another successful season celebrated on the streets of the East End of Glasgow last Saturday after Celtic shared the spoils with St. Mirren before Callum McGregor lifted a SPFL trophy.
The champions of Scotland have also improved in Europe and after the Cup Final is complete, Brendan Rodgers will continue working on improving the squad ahead of next season assault on Europe along with continuing to dominate the domestic scene.
In a game that Celtic dominated possession it was St. Mirren who took the lead 5 minutes in to the second half, Jonah Ayunga slotted the ball in to the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the visitors much to their traveling fans delight housed in the corner of Celtic Park.
James Forrest extended his incredible scoring run to 16 consecutive seasons with an outstanding last-gasp equaliser as the clock struck the 94th minute. It was the fairytale story of the day after waiting all season to get his goal and the only headline on a day when Celtic huffed and puffed for an hour before Rodgers brought on Forest, McCowan and Yang for Kuhn, Idah and Bernardo.
The subs made a difference and they brought an intensity to the game which had been missing and have now given Rodgers food for thought ahead of Saturday’s Cup decider against Aberdeen.
Reo Hatate would have started on Saturday if he had not picked up an injury in Pittodrie so his place is up for grabs. Brendan Rodgers opted for Bernardo to start against St. Mirren but McCowan looked lively when he came on. Who will the manager opt for in the middle with McGregor and Engels.
Kuhn had a quiet enough game on Saturday by his standards and looked pissed off when he was substituted for Forest. Will Rodgers stick with him or start Forest or will he come off the bench and continue his fairytale at Celtic.
Maeda plays but will it be down the middle with Yang on the wing or will the manager stick with Adam Idah up front. Whatever 11 players start they should be strong enough to beat Aberdeen who we hammered last week at their place in a dress rehearsal that featured players mostly on the fringes of the regular starting Celtic 11.
Roll on Saturday and the last trip to Glasgow for the season. Hopefully we will be celebrating long into the night.
Andrew Milne is Editor of More than 90 Minutes & Host of the Celtic Soul Podcast
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