Treble (and a third) Yell from Hampden’s serial winner Brendan Rodgers | OneFootball

Does winning another Treble motivate Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers? No sitting on the fence from the Hampden Park specialist yesterday afternoon as poor old St Johnstone paid the price for their smash and grab victory against a more comfortable Celtic side with a 5-0 hammering at the national stadium yesterday afternoon…

Celtic Huddle. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday 20 April 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Flares at Hampden yet again but not from the huge Celtic support

The Perth club has plenty of farmers in their support and they play close attention to weather conditions and many probably realised that lightning would not be striking twice yesterday as the Scottish Premiership’s bottom side took on the runaway leaders in the Scottish Cup semi-final at the National stadium.

They stayed on their farms as a tiny St Johnstone support lit up Hampden with red flares – which will surely see a punishment incoming from the Scottish FA.

Celtic supporters shows their support at full-time following the team’s victory in the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup Semi Final match between St Johnstone and Celtic at Hampden Park on April 20, 2025. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Dogged defending worked for a while

The Saints dogged defending worked for a while under Callum McGregor scored and opened the flood gates. It was 4-0 and game over with the goals coming in a devastating quarter of an hour spell before the knock-out whistle as the referee counted to ten then blew up for a break.  Daizen Maeda scored twice, Adam Idah once.

Idah was fouled in the second half with referee Calum Scott having a perfect view of a double handed push in the irishman’s back in the middle of the park. He looked carefully but waved play on as Viljami Sinisalo found himself picking the ball out of the Celtic net yet again despite having had nothing to do.

Daizen Maeda. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday 20 April 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Two lengthy VAR checks but stonewall penalty denied

A lengthy VAR check correctly scrubbed the effort early in the second half and when James Forrest went on one of those brilliant runs of his he seemed to be halted by an arm across his face inside the penalty area after a possible trip just outside the box.  Scott wasn’t well placed but pointed to the spot, Andrew Dallas on VAR called him to the screen and the penalty was scrubbed, presumably because the trip was outside the box, or regarded as not being a foul. The arm across Forrest’s face was completely ignored. We will await Willie Collum’s thoughts on this one.

No time added as Saints put out of their misery

One of the five Celtic substitutes Jota scored from a tight angle to make it 5-0 as both sides used all their substitutions in that second half, so with that happening and those two VAR checks with the referee being called to the screen on both occasions, we got to the 90th minute and Calum Scott blew the final whistle without the fourth official raising his board to tell us how many minutes were added on.

Not the best day’s work from the rookie referee.

Back to Brendan’s Treble Yell

Back to Brendan being asked about the prospect of winning another treble provide him with extra motivation?

Brendan Rodgers. St Johnstone v Celtic, Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park on Sunday 20 April 2025. Photo by Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

“Clearly, yes it does. Three point one it will be as well! (Or three point three, three actually). “Of course it’s nice when it comes to you as an individual. But it’s about what’s best for Celtic and us winning the trophies.

“It’s not so much the trophies for me on a personal level, it’s the hard work that goes into it. The values that are there, the idea of how we work and how we play, how we coach the players every day. That’s what’s more important to me. But, of course, for the club and the history and the supporters, getting the trophies is key. We have two more to go”

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