Scott Brown had predicted that the Bhoys were ready to give somebody a going over and the on-form midfielder's prediction was bang on target just like his shooting boots were yesterday. Even before St Mirren were reduced to 10 men Celtic looked very much up for this one. Shunsuke Nakamura had put the Bhoys ahead with a beautiful right-footed strike on 16 minutes and it seemed only a matter of time before the multitude of chances being created were converted into goals . 
Bang on target
The Feegie Park side lost defender Jack Ross after half an hour when he was deservedly red-carded for bringing down Scott McDonald in the box but you just had that feeling that even if Ross had remained on the field the Buddies would have been hard pushed to have held the marauding Celts to four or five.
Manager Strachan was, as always, magnanimous in victory "It was not a true reflection of St Mirren or their performances against us over the last four or five years." he said. "I would have been happy with a couple, but seven was a bonus. We continued on from last week in terms of playing good football and making chances. But this time we took the chances - that was the difference. The job, after your rivals have won before you, is to win as well and I saw a lot of good performances out there against St Mirren "
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink missed the penalty awarded following the Buddie's defender's red card but a first-half double from Nakamura set Celtic up for a more prolific second forty-five which saw a sensational goal from Marc Crosas, a Scott Brown double and a trademark stunning free-kick from Naka. The scoring was finished off with an unfortunate own goal from John Potter but it was good to see that the players continued to attack with vigour even when seven goals ahead obviously determined to negate Rangers' goal-difference lead at the top of the table. 
Hero Nakamura
"We started really well with some great passing and movement." said the Celtic manager. "When those two merge things are always good. But I did feel sorry for Gus MacPherson and his players after they went down to 10 men then lost the second goal. It was always going to be a hard day for them after that."
"I've been there myself." he continued. "It was a day when things went for us and we also took plenty of the chances we created. Before kick-off I was thinking we just needed to win and maybe score a couple of goals. But for St Mirren to play quite a bit of the game with 10 men was a big break."
Celtic's designated strikers didn't get on the scoresheet yesterday but the manager insists that he was happy with the form shown by the front pairing that started the game "The missed penalty didn't bother me. It's just a case of winning." he said. "Jan and Scott McDonald played well. If you look at the chances made when the two strikers were on they were better than when they were off. I think when they went off we started to get sloppy. That says a lot about them and their performances when they were on. They allowed us to command the penalty area and we could pass the ball into them and take it from there."