SCOTTISH LEAGUE: St Mirren 0 Celtic 2:PADDY McCOURT scored his second brilliant individual Celtic goal in four days in the Scottish Premier League win at St Mirren, but accepted the stinging criticism handed out to him and the rest of his team-mates by Tony Mowbray.

Wednesday saw the Irishman cap his first 90 minutes for the Hoops since signing from Derry City last summer with a fine solo strike in the League Cup win at Falkirk.

McCourt produced an even better effort at St Mirren Park, weaving his way past five Paisley challenges before firing past Paul Gallacher – but even that failed to lift the spirits of manager Mowbray.

Celtic finished the day four points clear of Rangers at the top of the SPL, but the Parkhead boss pilloried his players, describing their performances as unacceptable. Mowbray’s criticism was perhaps aimed providing a psychological spur ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with Rapid Vienna at Parkhead but nevertheless it was accepted by McCourt.

McCourt played down his 27th-minute strike which had the travelling support in raptures and insists he is ready for the European challenge on Thursday.

“It was nice to get the goal but it was important that we got the three points,” he said.

Second on the table, Rangers have now played four and a half hours of Premier League football without scoring a goal. Yet the Rangers captain, David Weir, believes fans will arrive at Ibrox tomorrow for the Champions League visit of Sevilla with victory in mind. “Sevilla are the toughest team in our group and the third best team in Spain,” Weir said.

“They have quality and depth. But 50,000 fans will still expect us to win and so do the players.”