Celtic Rally Past St Mirren as Yang Seals 2-1 Win

Celtic maintained their perfect start to the Scottish Premiership season by coming from behind to beat St Mirren 2-1 in Paisley on Saturday. Yang Hyun-jun scored the decisive goal in the second half as the defending champions recorded a fifth victory from five league matches. The result also handed St Mirren their first Premiership defeat of the campaign, according to a Press Association report published by The Guardian.

Watch the highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WK99qn_BuY

St Mirren went in front midway through the first half after Liam Scales was penalized for handball. Nikolas Agrafiotis converted the resulting penalty, putting the hosts in position to move to the top of the table. St Mirren continued to test Celtic and finished the match with 19 attempts at goal, ensuring the visitors had to work for the points.

Scales responded after the interval, heading Celtic level six minutes into the second half. Yang then completed the turnaround midway through the half, finishing a counterattack that developed after pressure from Camilo Duran. Celtic protected the advantage through the closing stages to extend their winning league run.

Yang's contribution came before a scheduled spell away from the club. The 24-year-old is due to travel to Japan for the Asian Games and is expected to miss Celtic's midweek visit to St Johnstone, two matches against Rangers and the Europa League opener against Ferencvaros. Celtic manager Martin O'Neill said the winger would be missed and highlighted both his current form and his willingness to work defensively.

Elsewhere, Rangers earned a 1-0 home win over Motherwell after substitute Ryan Naderi capitalized on goalkeeper Alex Paulsen losing possession outside his penalty area. Naderi had replaced captain Lawrence Shankland in the eighth minute after the striker suffered a hamstring injury, then scored the match's only goal four minutes later. Rangers manager Derek McInnes said Shankland would undergo a scan on Monday and cautioned against firm conclusions before the assessment.

Rangers also missed a first-half penalty through Kim Min-su but held on for a third straight Premiership victory. In the day's other reported results, Michael Forbes scored an added-time equalizer for Dundee United in a 1-1 draw with Falkirk, while 10-man Kilmarnock collected their first point of the season with a goalless draw at Aberdeen.