‘WE CAN BEAT CELTIC AGAIN,’ CLAIMS ST JOHNSTONE STAR

ST JOHNSTONE keeper Zander Clark is confident his team-mates can stage an action replay and end Celtic’s 28-game unbeaten domestic run at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Perth outfit that the last Premiership defeat suffered by the Hoops was the 2-1 loss against Tommy Wright’s men on May 11 last year.

Clark was in goal that evening  – Ronny Deila’s second last game as Parkhead boss – as the home side came back from a Leigh Griffiths strike to score through Steven MacLean and Graham Cummins.

They also ran the champions close last week, only losing to a solitary Dedryck Boyata second-half header in Glasgow.

Clark said: “Celtic seem to be beating everyone, so we know it’s going to be a tough game.

“You see them being 25 points clear at the top and they have quality throughout their squad.

“You also see them making five or six changes and they still win games convincingly.

“They have brought in good signings and there is talk of £40million for Moussa Dembele, so there is a lot of quality there.

“It’s always been a tough game against Celtic – anyone in the league will tell you that – but even more so this season.

“But if we can emulate the performance we had against them at Parkhead the other week, then who knows?

“We are going to need a bit of luck on the day, but we will go and give it our best shot and, hopefully, we won’t be too far away.

“We were the last team to beat them domestically, so it would be nice to be the next.

“That win at the end of last season seems a long time ago now and there have been a lot of changes since then.

“Their manager Brendan Rodgers has got them playing nice football and they are much stronger than last season.

“It will be a proud moment for the first team to beat them and we hope it’s us.”