The Machine Rolls On: A Partick Thistle-Celtic Match Report

Wednesday May 18th: Scottish Premiership; Partick Thistle 0 Celtic 5 (Griffiths (pen) 18', Rogic 26', Roberts 41' 84', McGregor 82')

Celtic continued their unbeaten domestic run with an emphatic 5-0 victory over Partick Thistle at Firhill, with Patrick Roberts maintaining his great run of form.

As expected Brendan Rodgers made changes to his starting line-up, with starts for the likes of Emilio Izaguirre, Cristian Gamboa, Erik Sviatchenko and James Forrest, with Sinclair and Tierney on the bench and Stuart Armstrong not in the squad at all. Scott Brown returned to captain the side after his two match suspension.

Celtic started the game on the front foot, with James Forrest coming close with an early shot which Cerny saved, Cerny then saved from a Roberts shot and McGregor steered a shot wide of goal when put clean through.

Izaguirre then hit the post after a flowing move before Celtic took the lead in the 18th minute, Griffiths finding the net from the penalty spot to score Celtic's 100th goal of the season (0-1). Eight minutes later it was 2-0, Rogic scrambling the ball home after fine work by Griffiths (0-2). McGregor really should have made it three but Cerny saved from point blank range, before a fantastic strike from Roberts made it 3-0 in the 41st minute (0-3).

The second-half was in stark contrast to the first-half as for large spells it seemed to resemble a training game, the most notable incident being Leigh Griffiths' angry reaction to being substituted. The game picked up with the introduction of Scott Sinclair, who was denied by Thistle's sub goalie Ridgers, but it was 4-0 after 82 minutes, with Callum McGregor's fine strike just bouncing over the line (0-4). Roberts made it 5-0 with his second of the game two minutes later with a superb curling strike (0-5). Rogic should have made it six in the dying minutes but his effort was saved by Ridgers, and the game ended 5-0 to the Champions.

Celtic's momentum keeps on going, and even with tonight's changes the team looked up for the fight for the first whistle. Patrick Roberts turned in another man of the match performance whilst the fringe players who featured didn't let the side down, with James Forrest playing well in particular. 103 points and 104 goals for this all-conquering Celtic side, next up the chance to break the goal scoring record and go through an entire league season unbeaten at home against Hearts this Sunday.