ST MIRREN boss Jim Goodwin witnessed his Paisley side being shredded 5-0 at Parkhead yesterday – and sportingly admitted Celtic are MILES in front of anyone in the Premiership.
The visitors were overwhelmed by rampant opponents with Leigh Griffiths firing in his first half-trick in over four years and the elegant Odsonne Edouard and Callum McGregor, with a perfectly-executed penalty-kick, chipped in with the others as the champions remained firmly on track for a ninth successive title.
And, although Goodwin conceded there was little his players could do to prevent being swept away, he revealed he thought they could pick up points when Steven Gerrard takes his Ibrox team to Paisley next month.
The Saints gaffer, speaking to the Evening Times, said: “Celtic are miles ahead of everyone in this league.
“It’s quite scary really, they probably never got out of second gear and still put five past us.
“We have to take it on the chin, but we can’t allow it to hurt us too much. We are proud people and we will analyse and look at what we can do better.
“Celtic have played 16 games here in the league and won 15, with Rangers the only team to beat them.
“They put four, five, six or seven past teams all the time at Parkhead and we’re on the receiving end of a sore one on this occasion.”
Goodwin, who was on Celtic’s books as a youngster, has some news to cheer up the team’s fans after a one-sided rout and insisted the outcome from a clash with Scotland’s title kings will not define their season.
They play relegation-threatened Hearts in midweek before meeting Kilmarnock on Saturday and then the Govan club a fortnight today.
He added: “We’ve got Rangers at home which we believe we can potentially pick something up in.
“There was an element of picking a team today with a view to Wednesday night.
“We set up in a manner to give us the best chance of picking up something from the game. But I’d be lying if I said Wednesday night wasn’t more important.
“We go into every game trying to win it, but we knew how difficult it would be here.
“We are all a little bit gutted about how it went. If you get anything at Parkhead when they are in this form it’s huge bonus, but the way we defended for some of the goals made it more difficult.”
LETHAL LEIGH LASHES IN A HAT-TRICK
