CELTIC had been sinners in Paisley in midweek as they spilt precious Scottish Premiership points against St Mirren.

Boxing Day hopefully represented some sort of redemption shot for those in green and white.

Ange Postecoglou's side had the chance to become Saints again as they faced Premiership basement strugglers, St Johnstone, in Perth.

The need to claim all three was paramount as they trailed league leaders Rangers by six.

However, the task facing them wasn't quite that simple.

It's never been that simple for Celtic at any stage of the campaign.

READ MORE: Detailed Celtic player ratings as Liel Abada at the double and Tom Rogic pulls the strings

Internet rumours abounded overnight on Christmas Day that an outbreak of Covid had affected the men from Glasgow's East End.

Added to a length injury list, it never rained but it poured for Ange as the Aussie's squad was decimated even more.

It was a makeshift team that took to the field as Celtic were without some instantly recognisable names.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart, Callum McGregor, Anthony Ralston, Mikey Johnston as well as injured stars Jota and David Turnbull were all missing as Ange made five changes from the side that drew 0-0 with St Mirren on Wednesday night.

There was a sensational return for Greek outcast Vasilis Barkas who was brought back in from the cold as he made his first league start of the season after appearing in the Champions League qualifiers against FC Midtjylland back in July.

In fact, Barkas' - who was the fourth choice goalkeeper by now - return was all the more remarkable as Celtic No.1 Scott Bain had failed to make the substitutes bench which meant 20-year-old youngster Danny Mullen was parachuted into the squad as was 18-year-old B-team striker Joey Dawson.

Amazingly, 16-year-old Ben Doak was also listed having played two games this season for the Celtic B team and contributing one goal and two assists.

If Doak featured at any stage he would become the youngest ever player to turn out for Celtic.

The only silver lining on the clouds was the return of Japanese bhoy Kyogo whose two goals last weekend against Hibs in the League Cup final saw Celtic plunder their 112th trophy and first silverware under Ange.

The Aussie must have felt that bringing back Kyogo was a risk worth taking, Ange revealed that had been a challenge pre-match picking his team selection and his message was simple and clear.

The Aussie like his players was not making any excuses and they all just had to roll with it.

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Both sides need for points was desperate as bottom dogs Saints were on a brutal sequence of seven consecutive defeats which was the hosts worst run of form since 2012.

Festive cheer was in short supply at McDiarmid Park though.

Only 500 supporters were allowed into the stadium due to new government restrictions and rules concerning the new strain of the omicron covid virus.

We did witness a small wonder of the world as Ange treated the Celtic supporters to a 3-5-2 formation.

The Aussie does adapt when needs must and this was a needs must kind of day.

It took the visitors all of nine minutes to get their noses in front.

James McCarthy won the ball in midfield and Josip Juranovic went scampering down the right, The Croatian's ball into the box was bang on the money as Liel Abada slammed it towards goal which St Johnstone goalkeeper Elliott Parish superbly parried into the air but despite the presence of two home defenders and Parish, the Israeli outjumped all three to bundle home for the opener.

It was a dream start for Celtic given the circumstances heading into the fixture.

That dream soon turned into a nightmare again though as risking Kyogo came back to bite the Celtic manager.

Kyogo chased down a long ball from McCarthy and pulled up indicating a hamstring injury and we hadn't even reached the quarter of an hour mark as the ​Japanese star was replaced by teenager Joey Dawson.

READ MORE: Celtic star Kyogo limps off injured versus St Johnstone

Once again Ange must have felt that he was up Dawson's Creek off the park.

On the park, Tom Rogic sensed that it was business as usual as he waltzed into the box and clipped a slide-rule pass to Abada who steered a low effort past Parish and Celtic were two to the good as the Israeli made it 10 career goals for his new club.

The Kyogo injury apart, it was actually shaping up to be not Abada day at the office for Celtic.

Abada then raced clean through on goal before the half-hour mark and only the fingertips of Parish prevented him from netting his first hat-trick for Celtic.

It was 2-0 going on a lot at the break as Celtic completely dominated proceedings and Ange will have been delighted with that.

Abada was then thwarted again by Parish with the supplier being Rogic as the second half followed the same pattern as the first.

Out of the blue with 21 minutes to go, it was game on as Chris Kane bulleted home a header after some slack defensive play by Carl Starfelt.

Celtic really ought to have been out of sight in this match but they weren't.

It was left to Abada's compatriot to slam home a rare but superb low drive to make the scoreline more emphatic in the 82nd minute.

The midweek sinners of Celtic had become Saints again.

Heaven really was a place in Perth.

They say in heaven that points come first.

In that case, it was definitely a matter of job done for Celtic.