Celtic newcomer Giannis Giakoumakis scored his first goal since joining the Glasgow club and his contribution to the team’s overall performance in beating St Johnstone 2-0 at Celtic Park on Sunday.
The victory helped Greek-Australian Ange Postecoglou seal his fourth consecutive win to again reassure the club’s fanatic fan base that he is the right man for one of the toughest jobs in Scotland following an inconsistent start to the season.
Giakoumakis, 26, had only made three substitute appearances since joining Celtic at the start of the season from Netherlands Eeredivisie team VVV-Venlo. Although the team finished last in the Netherlands’ top league, Giakoumakis was the division’s top scorer.
CelticFC website reported that Giakoumakis opened the scoring against St Johnstone from square ball from Anthony Ralston.
“It was something that I was looking forward to feeling, to scoring under the lights of this stadium in front of these people and for the fans,” Giakoumakis said of his first goal.
“They (St Johnstone) were a tough team to play against and a team that are focused on defence. They played with three central defenders, so our work was more difficult than usual. But finally we scored and that was it,” said Giakoumakis.
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The HeraldScotland said Giakoumakis, 26, had thrived on good service from his team mates and had proved a handful for his opponents. The newspaper also noted that the Greek also gave Celtic an edge in aerial challenges, an aspect of the game that the team had missed in recent times.
The Greek also worked well with striking partner Kyogo Furuhashi, another succesful Postecoglou import, and winger Joao Jota, who is on loan from Benfica. Postecoglou wants to make Jota’s move to Celtic permanent.
The win places Celtic in fourth place on 19 points and four points behind table leaders and eternal rivals Glasgow Rangers led by former Liverpool star Steven Gerrard.
Postecoglou said the Sunday’s victory was pleasing not only for Giakoumakis’ contribution but also for the way the team had played and the consistency it was showing following a string of injuries to key players Mikey Johnston, Christopher Julien and James Forrest.
Celtic next travel to Edinburgh to face Hibernian on Wednesday night.
