ALISTAIR JOHNSTON is still looking for his first goal in Paradise after knocking on wood TWICE in the 3-0 win over Dundee yesterday.
The Canada World Cup defender has claimed one strike for the Hoops since his £3.5million arrival from CF Montreal in January – a back-post header in the 5-1 win over St Mirren in Paisley on March 5.
Coincidentally, the goalkeeper that afternoon was Trevor Carson who faced Johnston yesterday after his summer move to Dens Park.
FIST IN TIME…Trevor Carson reacts to divert a shot from Alistair Johnston onto the underside of the crossbar.
OUT OF LUCK…Johnston and Carson look on as the ball rebounds down just short of the goal-line.
The raiding right-back was denied by the Northern Ireland netminder on one occasion when he managed to divert a blistering drive onto the underside of the crossbar. The ball ricocheted on the wrong side of the line before bouncing to safety.
But Carson was helpless late in the encounter when Johnston slipped a cute outside-of-the-boot effort away from him only to see his attempt hit the base of the far upright and once again elude any team-mate following up to cash in on a rebound.
Johnston joked: “There was a spell put on me and I was not going to score!
“I could have played another 90 minutes of football out there, but again, I’m better when I just clear the space for guys like Matty [O’Riley] to come into it and put them away.
THE LAST POST…Alistair Johnston slides the ball past the stranded Trevor Carson only to see his effort smack off the base of the far upright and rebound to safety.
“It’s another progress that I want to take into my game is getting into that box and filling that space and, hopefully, adding a couple of goals because it would be beneficial.
“But, at the same time, I’m a defender first, so I think the guys won’t hold that against me too much.”
Showing Johnston how to do it in a second-half onslaught were David Turnbull (penalty), Kyogo Furuhashi, with his fourth goal of the campaign, and O’Riley, who has now claimed three to equal last term’s total.
Reflecting on the performance against a stubborn Tayside outfit, the international No.2, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “It was reminiscent a little bit of the St Johnstone game from three weeks back.
“When we went in 0-0 at half-time, we realised we couldn’t let another 45 slip by and drop another couple of points. So, I think it was really good.
JINXED…Alistair Johnston can’t believe his bad luck.
“I thought the subs brought something as well and, again, we stuck to our principles. We knew what we wanted to do and they tired out, but that’s down to our football.
“So, we’re really happy with the result and it could have been more goals and I think some of us are disappointed!
“But at the end of the day it’s three points. so we can’t complain.”
