YANG HYUN-JUN exploded upon proceedings in Paisley when he joined the action in the 65th minute last night.
The South Korean winger took over from the tiring Nicolas Kuhn as one of three changes made by Brendan Rodgers with the scoreline deadlocked at 2-2.
Luke McCowan and Filipe Jota also came off the substitutes’ bench to take over from captain Callum McGregor and striker Adam Idah.
And Yang made an impact against St Mirren within three minutes when he got on the end of a Reo Hatate left-wing cross to head No.3 past the helpless Zach Hemming.
AIR WE GO – AT THE DOUBLE…Yang Hyun-jun bullets in a header for Celtic’s third goal against St.Mirren and (below) stages an action replay as he climbs above Declan John to nod in No.5 past helps keeper Zach Hemming.
The touchline performer then set up Daizen Maeda to slide in the fourth goal – and his 26th strike in a memorable crusade – and it was Yang who put extra gloss on the scoreline when he rose to bullet in the final goal from a ball perfectly delivered by Jeffrey Schlupp, who had claimed the first in the opening period.
And only the offside flag denied the youngster a third goal when he whipped in an unstoppable drive after being set up by Hatate, but his joy was cut short in an instant.
Understandably, Rodgers was delighted with the 25-minute performance from the 22-year-old raider who also scored a peach of a goal in the 5-1 midweek success over Aberdeen.
And the Hoops gaffer revealed the reason behind Yang’s recent upsurge in form – girl power!
Rodgers smiled: “I think it will help that his girlfriend’s here at the moment.
“I’ve said to the guys: ‘See if we can keep her here. See if we can get that visa sorted!’
HAIL THE HERO…Yang Hyun-jun, applauded by team-mate Filipe Jota, celebrates at the end with the Celtic fans in Paisley.
“Everyone knows he’s in a really good mood and he has been for a little while. He hit a double and his pass for Daizen Maeda’s goal – to see it and then to execute it? Wow! What a pass.
“And, like I said, he’s a young player who’s developing and improving. He played a really, really important role for us.
“There have obviously been starters ahead of him, but you need guys like this in your squad. He came into the game, was so direct and got into the areas. He was so good.”
Rodgers, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “I’m so pleased for him and he works so hard.
“He’s such a good guy and whether he starts or whether he comes off the bench, he can make an impact.
“So, to get his two goals – his third goal would have been a great goal but it was disallowed – and I’m very pleased with him.”
