Celtic held by lowly Saints in Scottish shock</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> GLASGOW (AFP) - Celtic needed a late strike from substitute Derek Riordan to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to lowly St Mirren in the Scottish Premier League on Saturday. Stephen McGinn put the visitors, sitting second bottom in the table, ahead in the second half before Riordan levelled in the 85th minute. Although Celtic stay two points clear at the top of the Premier League, they handed the initiative to second place Rangers, who have a game in hand against bottom of the table Gretna. Celtic boss Gordon Strachan praised St Mirren but admitted his side were below par. "They worked hard and should be happy with their defensive performance," said Strachan. "I couldn't see them scoring but we fought back well to get the equaliser and thought we'd then get a second. Our quality was not good but I can't fault my players' efforts." As expected Celtic controlled the game from the off, although heavy rainfall which quickly turned to snow, led to a slippery surface and players from both sides struggled to keep their feet. The home side's first effort on target came from Paul Hartley's free-kick from 25 yards in the second minute, which did not have either the power or accuracy to trouble St Mirren goalkeeper Chris Smith. St Mirren had been hammered 5-1 at Falkirk the previous Saturday but Celtic struggled to prise open their defence in the first half. Aiden McGeady came closest for the Parkhead side in the opening 45 minutes with a free-kick from 20-yards which had Smith beaten but hit the side of the net. In the 52nd minute Celtic were denied a lead by the woodwork. Hartley's free kick found Jarosik six-yards out and his header left Smith stranded only to rebound back off his post before being cleared. All the chances had been created by the home side but in the 69th minute St Mirren finally tested Celtic's stand-in goalkeeper Mark Brown - playing instead of Polish international Artur Boruc. However, the Paisley side's Franco Miranda shot straight at Brown from 16 yards. With only 20 minutes remaining Celtic boss Gordon Strachan threw caution to the wind by replacing defender Darren O'Dea with forward Riordan. But amazingly it was St Mirren who broke the deadlock in the 73rd minute. Billy Mehmet broke in from the left and fired in a powerful shot which Brown could only palm out into the path of McGinn who gratefully smashed the ball into the empty net. However, with only five minutes remaining Celtic's Dutch midfielder Evander Sno, who had replaced Jarosik in the 56th minute, picked out fellow substitute Riordan with a cross field pass. The former Hibernian striker took a great first touch before sending a fine left-foot shot into the top corner of the net. St Mirren manager Gus MacPherson was more than happy with the result. "We're delighted as we knew how difficult it would be but we've worked hard and to get a draw at Parkhead is fantastic," he said. "There's a slight disappointment not to win but we have to be realistic considering what we were up against. If someone had offered is a draw before the game we'd have taken it." In other games Aberdeen came from behind to win 2-1 at home to Kilmarnock. Spaniard David Fernandez opened the scoring for Killie but Barry Nicholson equalised after the break while Lee Miller won it for the Dons. Falkirk caused an upset with a 3-0 victory at home to Dundee United, with goals from Portuguese forward Pedro Moutinho and Graham Barratt in the first half and a third from Michael Higdon after the break. Inverness Caledonian Thistle won 2-0 at home to Hibernian courtesy of a double from Romanian forward Marius Niculae, with one in each half. Motherwell won 2-1 away to Hearts. Andrew Driver's early volley put the Tynecastle team in front but Chris Porter levelled for Well at the start of the second half before Ross McCormack won it for Mark McGhee's side.</div></p>
