CELTIC manager Ange Postecoglou has praised his gutsy players for seeing off a spirited Aberdeen comeback at Pittodrie to stay top of the Premiership.
Postecoglou’s men looked to be cruising to victory after Jota and Matt O’Riley goals half given them a commanding lead at the interval.
The hosts hit back though through Christian Ramirez and Lewis Ferguson, but Celtic dug deep and Jota came up with the winner for the second time this season at Pittodrie to stretch their unbeaten run in the league to 20 matches.
“It has been a big part of our way of doing things, we obviously want to be a team who dominates the game and scores goals,” Postecoglou said. “But at times over the last three or four months we have had to dig in.
“We had to do that again today, we’ve had two tough away games since the derby and we’ve taken six points from them. From our perspective that’s a positive but the second half showed we still have things to improve on.
“We dominated the game in the first half and had a couple more chances to score. You always know you are going to get a reaction, particularly away from home.
“We were handling it okay but it was disappointing to lose goals from set pieces. There were no real threats for us out there but they got one, got a reaction from the crowd and caused us problems with another one.
“After that, we needed to be a bit more calm to control the game better. We still had some chances but even then we were rushing things. Everyone was good in the first half but in the second we had to take control of it better.
“It’s not an easy place to come and win – it was important to come here and continue our form.
“We have been in good form for quite a long time and had great results for quite a long time. But we just need to keep improving our play.
“Of course there are going to be challenges. We have had all sorts and we are finding ways to overcome them which I think is a positive sign.”