St Johnstone last night enjoyed their first win over Celtic at Parkhead since the early '70s. St Johnstone struck early through Canadian Nick Dasovic and then had to hold firm for 75 minutes against a tide of green and white attacks and a fiercely partisan crowd of 55,889.

After Craig Burley had fouled John O'Neil on the edge of the box, Paul Kane rolled the ball across the 18-yard line to Dasovic who was not picked up by the home defence. The midfielder did not waste any time in firing a left-foot shot past Jonathan Gould.

Celtic, with new signing Vidar Riseth on the bench, started the game as they finished off Sunday's against Rangers - on the offensive - and Burley twice fired inches over from distance early on.

Celtic continued with plenty of possession and the biggest scare for Clark in the first half was when Stephane Mahe tumbled in the box with Gerard McMahon in close attendance, but the referee appeared to be right in waving play on.

The second half saw Celtic continue to have the lion's share of the ball and they could have scored with a stinging Paul Lambert shot but Alan Main produced a fine save diving to his right.

Celtic, who used all three substitutes in a desperate attempt to equalise but kept Riseth on the bench, had one final chance in the last minute, but again Main was equal to it when he pushed away a header from Harald Brattbakk.

Celtic: Gould, Boyd (Annoni 68), Mahe, Stubbs, Larsson, Burley, Brattbakk, Donnelly (McKinlay 82), Lambert, Jackson, Hannah (Burchill 62). Subs Not Used: McCondichie, Riseth. Booked: Mahe, Burley.

St Johnstone: Main, Dasovic, Kernaghan, O'Neil, O'Boyle (Grant 57), Kane, McMahon (Griffin 80), Bollan, McCluskey, Dods, Lowndes (Preston 23). Subs Not Used: Whiteford, Ferguson. Booked: Bollan, McCluskey. Goals: Dasovic 15. Attendance: 55,889.

Referee: M McCurry (Glasgow).