Sam Johnstone Shines in Celtic's 1-0 Win Over St Johnstone
Sam Johnstone walked off at McDiarmid Park with a grin as bright as the floodlights above him.
"Amazing. What a feeling."
You could hear the release in his voice. Twenty-one months since his last league appearance, the 33-year-old finally had a stage again – and he used it to slam Celtic’s goal shut in a tight, nervy 1-0 win over St Johnstone that kept their perfect start intact.
A surprise name, a big performance
His name on the teamsheet raised eyebrows. A Wolves loanee, dropped straight in ahead of Viljami Sinisalo, who has barely put a glove wrong. This was a gamble from Martin O'Neill.
It didn’t look like one for long.
Johnstone’s afternoon in Perth was not about flying for cameras. It was about doing the hard, ugly bits when Celtic briefly lost control. Three times St Johnstone worked a shooting chance inside the box. Three times Johnstone got in the way.
The standout moment came from Joel Cotterill. A sharp, first-time strike, rising, destined to punish Celtic. Johnstone’s response was pure instinct – a sharp step, a snap of the arm, a terrific fingertip over the bar that kept the champions from falling behind and flipped the mood of the game.
He dealt with everything else with the assurance of a man who has been here before. One aerial duel, won. One punched clearance, decisive. On the ball he was calm, too: 31 of 38 passes found a team-mate, five of them driven long into the final third to turn defence into attack.
Late on, cramp nipped at him. The legs tightened, the stride shortened. But he stayed in, saw it out, and walked off with a clean sheet and a new crowd behind him.
"It's been a rollercoaster week, coming in and getting to know the lads and staff, training and watching a couple of games," Johnstone said afterwards. "So to finally get on the pitch and get a win, clean sheet, play in front of the fans, it was an unbelievable feeling. I'm really happy."
Four England caps sit on his CV. On this evidence, the pedigree hasn’t gone anywhere.
O’Neill’s dilemma before Ibrox
For O'Neill, this was exactly what he wanted – and exactly what complicates his weekend.
"The save was fantastic, a really, really brilliant reaction save," the Celtic manager said. "He's a fine goalkeeper and it's just a matter of him getting up to speed with things. Sinisalo's done very, very well indeed, and while I [ideally] do not want to use games like this, I have to find out about a number of players.
We'll see what happens on Sunday but we've got loads and loads of games and it is really nice to know that I have actually two really decent goalkeepers."
Sunday is not just another game. It is a League Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, a derby that can shape a season and scar a player. Sinisalo has the shirt in the broader sense; Johnstone has just made the loudest possible case in 90 minutes.
Former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner saw enough to know this is no token loan signing.
"Johnstone looked commanding and had that terrific reflex save. He did good, he'll be under more pressure in other games," Bonner told BBC Sportsound. "It will be interesting to see what the manager does now - does he keep him in or go with Sinisalo? Celtic have two good goalkeepers at the moment."
That is the crux of it. A week ago, Celtic had a settled number one. Now they have a choice, and a big one, in the most unforgiving fixture of their season so far.
Johnstone called it a rollercoaster week. The next twist comes when O’Neill names his team at Ibrox.
