Celtic 5 St.Johnstone 2

Shaun Maloney and Marc-Antoine Fortune both bagged a brace as Celtic brushed St Johnstone aside and surged to the top in of the SPL at Parkhead on Saturday.

Fortune scored for the first time his big money move from Nancy in the 21st minute, but after Shaun Maloney made it 2-0, Saints striker Collin Samuel pulled a goal back after an error by Gary Caldwell.

Further goals from Maloney, Fortune and Scott McDonald after the break secured the points before Jody Morris scored a consolation for the visitors.

While Celtic boss Tony Mowbray will be glad to see Fortune get off the mark, and good displays from widemen Maloney and Aiden McGeady, it was nevertheless another game that Caldwell will want to forget.

Celtic made a slack start to the game and in the 14th minute they had midfielder Scott Brown to thank for a wonderful saving tackle at the edge of the Celtic box after Chris Millar had sent Filipe Morais racing through.

However, in the 21st minute the home fans got what they wanted when Fortune opened his account for the Hoops.

Maloney tore down the left and when his precise cut-back came into the Saints box, Fortune calmly sidefooted the ball into the corner from around 14 yards.

Celtic were on top and Saints goalkeeper Main had to concede a corner when blocking McDonald’s angled drive with the visiting side eventually emerging unscathed.

But the respite was only temporary and in the 28th minute Celtic defender Andreas Hinkel linked up with McGeady down the right.

When Hinkel’s cross came over, Maloney was allowed to rise unchallenged to bullet a header past Main from 10 yards.

That goal seemed to sap the Perth men of most of their belief but in the 37th minute they were handed a lifeline when Samuel pounced on Caldwell’s mistake to reduce the deficit.

Caldwell tried to head Main’s long clearance across to Loovens but failed to connect properly and the ball fell to the Saints striker who quickly rifled a wonderful low drive from 25 yards past Boruc.

McGeady almost repaired the damage less than a minute into the second half when he worked a one-two with Fortune down the right but his angled drive was parried by Main for a corner which the visitors survived.

Celtic went up through the gears and soon had the points secure.

In the 53rd minute Maloney grabbed his second goal with a powerful drive from the edge of the penalty area and a minute later McGeady slipped in Fortune and the former Nancy striker buried his shot from 14 yards past Main.

That was the match over but moments later Fortune missed a great chance to grab a hat-trick when he somehow stabbed Hinkel’s long cross to the back post wide of the target from around four yards.

In the 67th minute, following a good cross from Saints substitute Martin Hardie, Boruc made a decent save from Samuel’s header but there was no way back for the Perth men.

In the 74th minute McDonald made it 5-1 when he headed in Danny Fox’s cross from close range after the former Coventry left-back had taken Maloney’s pass from a corner.

However, two minutes later, after some indecision in the Celtic defence, St Johnstone midfielder Morris somehow managed to burrow his way into the box and trundle a shot in off the post.

It’s been an excellent domestic start for the Hoops, but things will probably be a little trickier against Hibs next weekend