Sam Johnstone's Stunning Celtic Debut
Sam Johnstone walked off McDiarmid Park with a grin as bright as the floodlights above him.
"Amazing. What a feeling."
You could see what he meant.
After 21 months without a league appearance, the Wolves loanee stepped into the Celtic goal and delivered a composed, decisive debut in a grinding 1-0 win over St Johnstone that keeps Celtic’s perfect start intact.
Surprise starter, statement performance
His name on the team sheet raised eyebrows. Viljami Sinisalo has done little wrong, yet Martin O'Neill turned to the 33-year-old England international for this tricky night in Perth.
Johnstone didn’t waste the opportunity.
He faced three efforts from inside the box. He stopped all three. The standout was a stunning, instinctive tip-over from Joel Cotterill’s first-time strike, a moment that stopped Celtic falling behind and briefly silenced the home crowd. That was the kind of save that changes the tone of a night – and maybe the direction of a selection debate.
He was assured in the basics too. One aerial duel contested, one won. One punch, clean and decisive. On the ball, he looked like he’d been in this team for months rather than days: 31 completed passes from 38 attempted, five of them launched accurately into the final third to get Celtic moving up the pitch.
Only a late bout of cramp betrayed the lack of recent game time. The rest of it looked like a goalkeeper very much at home.
"It's been a rollercoaster week, coming in and getting to know the lads and staff, training and watching a couple of games," Johnstone said afterwards.
"So to finally get on the pitch and get a win, clean sheet, play in front of the fans, it was an unbelievable feeling. I'm really happy."
O’Neill’s dilemma before Ibrox
Johnstone called it a rollercoaster. O’Neill might call it a headache.
The Celtic manager didn’t hide his admiration for the debut display, and with a League Cup quarter-final at Rangers looming on Sunday, the timing of this performance could not be sharper.
"The save was fantastic, a really, really brilliant reaction save," O'Neill said.
"He's a fine goalkeeper and it's just a matter of him getting up to speed with things. Sinisalo's done very, very well indeed, and while I [ideally] do not want to use games like this, I have to find out about a number of players.
"We'll see what happens on Sunday but we've got loads and loads of games and it is really nice to know that I have actually two really decent goalkeepers."
That last line is the crux. Celtic suddenly look well stocked in a position that can define seasons.
Sinisalo has built credit. Johnstone has just banked some of his own.
Two keepers, one derby shirt
From the stands, former Celtic goalkeeper Pat Bonner saw exactly what O’Neill now has to wrestle with.
"Johnstone looked commanding and had that terrific reflex save. He did good, he'll be under more pressure in other games," Bonner told BBC Sportsound.
"It will be interesting to see what the manager does now - does he keep him in or go with Sinisalo? Celtic have two good goalkeepers at the moment."
That’s the decision waiting at Ibrox. Stick with the surprise starter who just delivered a clean sheet and a game-changing stop, or restore the man who has quietly held the jersey?
Johnstone has done what every new signing dreams of: he’s forced the manager to think twice. On Sunday, we find out just how much this night in Perth has shifted the pecking order.
