Mika Baur scores his first goal for Celtic in win over St Johnstone

Celtic's Mika Baur appeals for a corner during the William Hill Premiership match at McDiarmid Park, Perth. Pic: Steve Welsh/PA Wire.

Summer signing Mika Baur notched his first goal for Celtic as the Scottish champions maintained their perfect start to their William Hill Premiership title defence with a 1-0 victory away to St Johnstone.

The German midfielder struck from close range early in the second half after debutant Hoops keeper Sam Johnstone had produced a stunning first-half save to deny Saints midfielder Joel Cotterill.

It was a night when Celtic boss Martin O’Neill was able to demonstrate the depth of his squad ahead of Sunday’s Old Firm showdown away to Rangers in the Premier Sports Cup, with key players like Camilo Duran, Benjamin Nygren and Kieran Tierney starting on the bench and defender Cameron Carter-Vickers given the evening off due to stiffness.

Although far from their convincing best, the Hoops did enough to close out a sixth consecutive league victory this term and their 13th in a row in total stretching back to the closing weeks of last season.

O’Neill’s men are now five points clear of second-placed Rangers, who they also face in their next Premiership match a week on Sunday.

Saints boss Simo Valakari made four changes to the team that started Sunday’s 2-1 win over Hibernian, including handing a debut to on-loan Hibs midfielder and a first start to Welsh midfielder Cotterill.

There were five changes to the Celtic side that started Saturday’s 2-1 win at St Mirren, with England goalkeeper Johnstone pitched in for his debut, on-loan Parma midfielder Oliver Sorensen handed his first start and Dane Murray, Kasper Hogh and Sebastian Tounekti all added.

Celtic, whose supporters packed into three of McDiarmid Park’s four stands, had the first attempt of the evening when Haissem Hassan’s low angled shot from just inside the box was pushed behind by Toby Steward.

Saints were generally able to keep the visitors at arm’s length and they almost went ahead in the 19th minute. Enes Alic fizzed over a low cross from the left and Cotterill’s shot on the bounce from eight yards out looked destined for the roof of the net but Johnstone reacted superbly to push it over.

At the other end, Hoops captain Callum McGregor saw a close-range effort scrambled behind by the Saints defence just before Cheick Diabate raced back to make a brilliant intervention to stop Hassan getting a clean run on goal.

The hosts finished the half strongest, with Diabate seeing a header cleared by Murray before Alic shot wide from the edge of the box. The sure-footed Johnstone then had to stand firm to block from Taylor Steven two minutes after the restart.

But Saints had the wind removed from their sails as Celtic made the breakthrough in the 52nd minute. Tounekti’s cross from the left was helped on by Hogh into the path of Hassan, who skinned Diabate on the right of the six-yard box and drove a low ball across the face of goal for Baur who slotted home from close range.

Hassan thought he had added a second but it was ruled out as the ball had drifted out of play before the Egyptian, sub James Forrest and Hogh were all denied by the impressive Steward in the closing stages.

Elsewhere a dramatic last-gasp strike from substitute Bojan Miovski gave Rangers a 1-0 win over St Mirren at Ibrox.

Back in the technical area after a two-game touchline suspension, Derek McInnes watched St Mirren’s Australian goalkeeper Jacob Chapman keep the home side at bay in the first half with a string of saves, albeit helped by some poor finishing.

Craig McLeish’s side, who lost 5-1 at Ibrox in the Premier Sports Cup last month, grew in confidence after the break and Fraser Taylor missed a great chance while the frustrated home support returned to the state of agitation which characterised the start of the season.

However, in the final seconds of normal time, Miovski, on for Djeidi Gassama, pounced in the box to grab the winner to make it four victories in a row.