It was an emotional start to the Scottish Premier League season for Celtic. Before the opening game against St Mirren, the widow of Tommy Burns – who died from cancer in May – was present to raise the Championship flag ahead of the big kick-off. Rosemary Burns was assisted by Celtic captain Stephen McManus and emotion was running high for everybody in the ground.

That wasn’t the end of the pre-match sentiments either. Marc Crosas, Celtic’s new signing from Barcelona was paraded in front of the crowd before the game. After all the hype and all the build up, 57,000 Hoops fans were ready for the football to begin and were in fine voice. Most script writers would have been pencilling in a comfortable Celtic victory to top off a significant and emotional day for the club.

However, convincing is far from the word I would use to describe Celtic’s win. Yes, they did what they had to do, but St Mirren put on a marvellous show to test Gordon Strachan’s men to the limit.

With the crowd firmly behind them, there is no doubt that the home side started with more possession. However, it was the visitors who had the first attempts on goal. Garry Brady and Stephen McGinn both hit long range efforts that tested Celtic keeper Artur Boruc. Throughout the first half, St Mirren matched their hosts, who failed to create any clear cut chances. As the players went in for the interval, the home crowd were far from inspired by what they had seen. In fact, many were pondering that St Mirren could go against all football odds and get a result. Especially if they continued to play as well as they were.

Making this seem even more likely, St Mirren started the second half well with striker Mehmet almost finding the back of the net as he struck the ball from the edge of the area only for Boruc to make a crucial save for his side. Much like he did for Poland in Euro 2008, he kept Celtic on level terms with this save.

As everyone knows though, both Celtic and Rangers have a habit of grinding out victories even if they don’t exactly deserve them. Today’s game was a great example of this and the fact that the winning goal was a controversial penalty rubbed salt into St Mirren’s wounds.

It was Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink that won the spot-kick for the home side. Will Haining was adjudged to have pulled back the Dutch striker as he was charging towards goal. Replays suggested that this was rather harsh on Haining - who was also shown a red card – and a St Mirren side who had given their all in an attempt to get an unlikely result at Celtic Park.

Then, just to frustrate the away side even more, they saved the Barry Robson penalty only for it to spin over the line before their keeper cleared the ball away. It was the type of goal that summed up the nature of Celtic’s victory fairly well.

St Mirren still pushed for an equaliser, but it just wasn’t their day and Celtic held on for the points. It was a far from convincing display and certainly didn’t match what Celtic fans have come to expect, but a win is a win. It was important the Bhoys began the defence of the SPL title with a positive result.

It’s a trip to Dundee United next for Strachan’s men where they will hopefully put in a decent performance to ensure another early season victory.