Strachan defends no-scoring strikers

CELTIC manager Gordon Strachan has defended his strikers after none of them scored in the 7-0 thrashing of St Mirren at Parkhead.

The Hoops' hit-men have borne the brunt of the criticism during the club's poor recent run of form which saw them win just three SPL games out of the previous ten. Rangers' 1-0 win at Hamilton had piled pressure on Celtic but against a dishevelled St Mirren team they equalled their own SPL record-winning margin – held jointly with Hibs – to go within four goals of the Ibrox side at the top of the SPL table with both sides on the 60-point mark.

Remarkably, though, neither Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink or Scott McDonald, nor substitute strikers Georgios Samaras and Ben Hutchinson, scored as the champions cruised to victory with a Shunsuke Nakamura hat-trick, a Scott Brown double, Marc Crosas's first goal for the club and a John Potter own goal.

Strachan said: "If you look at the chances made when the two strikers were on, then you have to say that Scott and Jan were good. When they were off, we started to get scruffy, so that says a lot about their performances when they were on. They allowed us to have a landing area where we could pass the ball and play from."