Sam Johnstone Ends Unwanted Celtic Record on Debut

Sam Johnstone could hardly have asked for a better Celtic debut after helping end the club’s long wait for an away Premiership clean sheet.

The 33-year-old was handed his first start in Wednesday night’s 1-0 win over St Johnstone and made an immediate impact at McDiarmid Park.

Celtic had gone months without shutting out a league opponent away from home, but Johnstone helped bring that run to an end on his first appearance for the club.

The numbers show how important his contribution was.

Nearly eight months and 21 Premiership matches had passed since Celtic’s previous away league clean sheet, a 1-0 win at Falkirk on January 14.

According to FotMob, Johnstone made three saves across the 90 minutes, with all three coming from efforts inside the box.

He faced 0.99 xGOT and finished with a goals prevented figure of 0.99, meaning his saves effectively stopped almost a full expected goal.

The biggest came in the first half, with the score still 0-0, when he reacted sharply to deny St Johnstone from close range.

The data also recorded his saves in the 19th, 47th and 90th minutes, so Johnstone was required at key points in both halves.

He also completed 32 of his 38 passes for an 84 per cent success rate, had 48 touches, made one high claim and was credited with acting as a sweeper once.

It was not a night where Celtic’s goalkeeper was under constant pressure, but that made the margins even finer.

Mika Baur eventually broke the deadlock seven minutes into the second half, and with Celtic unable to add a second, Johnstone’s work at the other end ensured that one goal was enough.

Three saves may not look spectacular in isolation, but all three were needed.

On his first Celtic appearance, Johnstone kept a clean sheet, helped secure all three points and gave Martin O’Neill another major decision ahead of Sunday’s trip to Ibrox.