A WHEEL OF FORTUNE; Celts in spin as defensive blunders take shine off striker.

Byline: MARK GUIDI

CELTIC ................5 ST JOHNSTONE ..2

THERE'S no doubt Tony Mowbray's Celtic teams will play more attractive and entertaining football than the sides put out by Gordon Strachan.

But the new Parkhead boss will not enjoy the same success as his predecessor unless more attention is paid to defending properly.

Mowbray's men have now only kept one clean sheet in five competitive games this season after shipping sloppy goals to Collin Samuel and Jody Morris yesterday.

Marco Fortune broke his Hoops duck with a double to help bail out the dodgy defence with Shaun Maloney also netting twice and Scott McDonald grabbing the fifth.

Ovation The brand of football Celtic play from middle to front is unlikely to be beaten by any Scottish side this season.

But Gary Caldwell and Co must be given more protection by the guys in front of them.

Caldwell seems to be the whipping boy at the moment and that's harsh. Yes, he should have been cuter to avoid his red card for Scotland against Norway.

But the stopper can't be faulted for his own goal against Arsenal as that was just bad luck. He would have wanted a flawless display against Saints to boost his confidence but made another error to gift Samuel his goal. And Caldwell will now be under even more pressure ahead of Wednesday's Euro return with the Gunners at the Emirates.

Before his blunder all eyes were on Fortune as he scored his first goals since a pounds 3.8million move from AS Nancy.

The striker was given a standing ovation in 69 minutes when he was replaced by Chris Killen and Mowbray was thrilled to see him get off the mark.

The Celtic boss said: "It was good for Marco to score.

"There is more to his game than goals and I've been pleased with him from day one.

"Not scoring in previous games seemed to cause concern but that was a media-driven thing.

"It seems to be if you cost pounds 3m you should score all the time. Our wide players also contributed and I know we'll score lots of goals.

"We now head to Arsenal in midweek and it's my job to pick a team that will get us a result.

"We're two goals down but will try our best to score first to make a game of it."

Saints certainly made a game of it early on at Parkhead and almost grabbed a shock lead after 14 minutes.

Filipe Morais looked to be clean through on Artur Boruc but Scott Brown made up ground and slid in right at the edge of the box to deny the midfielder.

It proved to be a crucial block as Celtic got their noses in front seven minutes later.

The brilliant Maloney skipped away from Dave Mackay, Stuart McCaffrey and Garry Irvine on the left. He then picked out Fortune who stroked the ball past Alan Main from 13 yards.

The big man looked relieved to finally get off the mark and almost added a second when his header was cleared off the line by McCaffrey.

Main then had to get down smartly to his right to deny McDonald as Celtic pushed hard for a second goal.

But the veteran keeper was helpless when Maloney made it 2-0 in 28 minutes.

Aiden McGeady played in Andreas Hinkel down the right and the German's cross was powerfully headed home by Maloney from nine yards. It looked like Celtic would coast to victory but the Perth men never gave up and pulled a goal back after 37 minutes.

Caldwell tried to clear with his head just inside the Celtic half but didn't make clean contact.

The ball fell to Samuel and he drilled home with a powerful shot from 20 yards.

Mowbray's men started the second half well and restored their two-goal lead in 52 minutes after a mistake by Morris. The midfielder's loose pass was picked up by Maloney and he sent a 20-yard strike past Main.

Fortune killed the game off two minutes later after being set up by McGeady.

And it was a composed finish as he slid the ball with a bit of curl past Main from 14 yards.

The big man was then handed the chance to complete his hat-trick but missed from six yards. However, Celtic did make it five in 54 minutes when McDonald pounced.

Maloney took a short corner to Fox and the left-back's lovely delivery was headed home by the Aussie striker.

Saints boss Derek McInnes was furious with his troops for switching off and Celtic's defence was also caught napping when Morris netted in 76 minutes.

The midfielder was given time to get in a shot and his effort crept in at Boruc's left-hand post.

REF WATCH REF WATCH

WILLIE COLLUM had a comfortable afternoon. The players behaved well and there wasn't a difficult call for him to make. He would love every match to be as straightforward as this one. Rating: 6/10.

CAPTION(S):

Sweet relief: Hitman Fortune breaks his Celtic duck Nodding off: McDonald punishes the slack Saints Marc up another: Fortune slides his second goal past Alan Main as Celtic turn on the style Shaun to a winner: Celtic dangerman Maloney celebrates after his killer second