McGeady: Sight of substitute helped spur goal

CELTIC midfielder, Aiden McGeady admits he was relieved manager, Gordon Strachan allowed him to stay on long enough in Celtic’s 5-1 Bank of Scotland Premier League win over St Mirren on Saturday to grab a goal.

The Hoops were cruising through Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink’s first-half opener only to be stopped in their tracks two minutes after half-time when Saints midfielder, Stephen McGinn, grandson of former Celtic chairman, Jack McGinn, fired in a spectacular equaliser from the edge of the box.

A few nervy moments followed before Vennegoor of Hesselink restored Celtic’s lead from the spot after St Mirren midfielder, Simon Lappin, was adjudged to have bundled Shunsuke Nakamura to the ground inside the Buddies’ penalty area.

However, McGeady’s strike to make it 3-1 on the hour mark, which effectively secured the points for the champions, came as Derek Riordan stood on the sidelines waiting to replace the Republic of Ireland player.

The 20-year-old said: “Obviously I was a bit disappointed to come off but I was delighted to get a goal. It’s something that I have to add to my game and hopefully there’s a few more to come.

“I saw Derek warming up five minutes after half-time and I thought, ‘Hopefully I’m not getting the hook just now!’ But just before my goal, I saw him getting warmed up again and I knew I was going off. So I suppose the fact that I was being taken off added to the goal a little.”

Vennegoor of Hesselink completed his hat-trick with a low drive before substitute, Kenny Miller, on for Craig Beattie, scored his first goal since October to complete the rout.

Unsurprisingly, most of the attention centred on the Holland international who proved that, when fit, he is far and away the best striker at Parkhead.

McGeady bracketed the big Dutchman favourably with former Hoops target men, John Hartson and Chris Sutton, who enjoyed hero status with the Parkhead fans.

“He hasn’t scored as many goals obviously, but that will come in time.”