James Forrest gave Celtic fans the finale they craved as he equalised in stoppage time against St Mirren to extend his run of scoring for the club to 16 consecutive seasons.
Forrest left it until the league season was 38 games old to get off the mark on a day when he was chosen to deliver the William Hill Premiership trophy to his team-mates ahead of Callum McGregor lifting it for the fourth year running.
St Mirren were leading through Jonah Ayunga’s goal – and at one stage heading for Europe – until Alistair Johnston set up fellow substitute Forrest, who slotted inside the near post to make it 1-1.
Forrest had injected some much-needed urgency and creativity into the Celtic team after being introduced in the 55th minute after the home fans raised banners in his honour and sang his name.
The winger then went on to collect the 26th winners’ medal of his Celtic career, one more than previous record holder Bobby Lennox.
St Mirren fans were left proud of their team for their display and for going through the post-split fixtures unbeaten, but also disappointed after being pipped to fifth place.
Dundee United striker Sam Dalby’s 63rd-minute winner against Aberdeen saw European qualification slip from their grasp even before Forrest struck.
The first half saw St Mirren sit deep and defend their box and protect goalkeeper Zach Hemming, who dealt with a series of corners.
St Mirren striker Mikael Mandron came closest to breaking the first-half deadlock, forcing Kasper Schmeichel to beat away his shot on the angle.
Nicolas Kuhn might have had a penalty early in the second half when he rode Richard Taylor’s risky challenge instead of going down. The winger set up Paulo Bernardo but the midfielder took too long to shoot and lost the chance.
Saints stunned Celtic Park in the 51st minute. Liam Scales headed out Declan John’s long free-kick but only as far as Ayunga, who fired a left-footed shot low into the corner from 16 yards.
Celtic were in need of some urgency and they got it with the introduction of Forrest, who came on along with Luke McCowan and Yang Hyun-jun.
Forrest was involved before McCowan and Callum McGregor had shots blocked and then set up Daizen Maeda with some brilliant wing play.
Maeda has 33 Celtic goals to his name this season and they were all probably easier to score than this chance but he headed over from a yard out.
St Mirren were getting chances on the break and Mandron glanced a header wide before Schmeichel saved from Roland Idowu.
Celtic stepped up the pressure in the final stages. Substitute Johnny Kenny showed good pace to get in behind the visiting defence but Hemming made a double save before repelling Yang’s acrobatic effort moments later.
Forrest ignored cries of ‘shoot’ to set up Jeffrey Schlupp but Marcus Fraser blocked brilliantly.
The 33-year-old had also seen efforts blocked before his fairy-tale finish.
