GettyImagesNeil Lennon celebrates Efe Ambrose's goal against St Johnstone

Celtic's 6-2 demolition of Dundee United, followed by their 1-1 draw with St. Johnstone on Tuesday night was a somewhat welcome distraction from the continued furore over the refereeing performance during the Champions League clash with Juventus.

The fact that Celtic are now set to issue a DVD and ask questions of UEFA over the referee, is to some extent comical. Yes, Celtic were hard done by twice, but the Hoops had plenty of chances to score and ultimately fell on their own sword due to the poor defending of Efe Ambrose and the rest of the team.

The referee did not score those goals, nor did he allow the Celtic defence to lose their focus on three occasions. But he is an easy target, just like Ambrose was for team-mate Kris Commons.

On that issue between Ambrose and Commons, it seems that Ambrose is now sticking the obligatory two fingers up to his team-mates as the Nigerian has scored twice in two games - matching Commons. The perfect way for Ambrose to do it, other than a hefty slide tackle on the midfielder in training.

Tuesday night's game against St. Johnstone showed that Celtic's attacking threat in Scottish football is second to none, however the killer instinct which was so evident against Dundee United in the previous game alluded them in Perth - helped on by the superb form of the Perth Saints keeper who was on fire.

What I found baffling was Lennon's defence of the side after the draw, yes Celtic dominated but at the end of the day they dropped two points. Two points may not matter come the end of the season - given there is no title challenge to Celtic - but that lack of killer instinct and the inability to finish in the final third proved as costly against St. Johnstone as it did against Juventus in the Champions League and they were made to pay for it.

The riot act doesn't need to be read out to the players, but finishing and set plays in the final third must be looked at time and again. As I have said in previous articles, Celtic at times lack that spark of creativity that seems to come and go in their games and it either needs fresh blood injected into the side in the summer from outside or promoted from within. Some are far too comfortable in their positions.

Next up for Celtic is Dundee on Sunday, who sacked their manager Barry Smith on Wednesday afternoon. The Dens Park side are dead certs now for relegation and Celtic should pile more misery on the managerless side - well that is what the form book would allude too. But as we know, football doesn't always work to form and neither do Celtic.

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