Brendan Rodgers praised the resilience of his Celtic players after they came from behind to claim a dramatic late win at Ross County.
Trailing 1-0 to a first-half penalty from County striker Ronan Hale, the champions were staring down the barrel of their first home defeat of the season.
Despite a struggling performance, they rallied and scored twice in the final 15 minutes through Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn.
Kuhn’s 88th-minute winner maintained Celtic’s 100 percent record in domestic competitions in the new campaign.
Rodgers praised his side for their response to the 7-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund, saying: ‘We deserved to win the game, but in the first half we were too slow and too passive.
‘It wasn’t that good in the first half. We were moving too slowly and we weren’t creating enough. You have to give Ross County and their organization a lot of credit.
Kuhn, left, and McGowan drive away in delight after German’s winning goal
Celtic boss Rodgers congratulates Kuhn on dramatic late goal
Relief for Celtic after Kuhn made it 2-1 to the champions with two minutes to go
“I don’t think much happened in the game anyway, but it was definitely up to us and the team that has the ball to do more with it.
‘So in the second half, especially when the substitutions come on, we bring new energy into the game. In the end we got what we deserved.
“I have absolutely 100 percent confidence in the resilience of this team.
‘Resilience, no matter how you dress it up, is all about perseverance, determination and fight – and we had that in spades today.
‘We had to show that and the players did that too. It has been a very, very busy period for us.
‘We have now played seven games in three competitions in 23 days and the players have won six of them, and the defeat was against the Champions League finalists. So I tip my hat to them.
Ronan Hale, top right, gave Ross County a shock lead with his retaken penalty
Full back Johnston equalized for Celtic in the 76th minute of a tense encounter
Kuhn then sent the traveling support wild with his late intervention
“It’s been a very, very good period for us and we will learn from a game today because the new boys coming in will see that there is no easy game and you can’t look for it.
“You have to do the work and over the course of the 90 minutes we did the work and got the result.”
Celtic have now won all nine games in domestic competitions this season, even as their record of consecutive clean sheets has disappeared.
Hale’s penalty, initially saved by Kasper Schmeichel before being cleared at the second attempt after the Celtic keeper was judged to have come off his line, was the first goal the champions have conceded on home soil this season.
However, Celtic showed more urgency in the second half and played at a faster pace, with Callum McGregor’s shot deflected off Johnston before Kuhn scored the late winner.
Satisfied with how his team carried on until the final whistle, Rodgers added: “You have to [keep going]. It’s a Celtic tradition, isn’t it?
‘That’s how the game is played at this club. Because if you look this week, we had thousands of fans in Dortmund.
“They saw what they saw, which wasn’t great, but they gave us great support at the end of the game.
“Now they have to come here for the 12 o’clock kick-off, so the least you can do is stick your heart out until the end. That is what this club stands for. It’s the structure of this club. You continue until the end.
‘We had some luck with the first goal, but we were under constant pressure there. The corner comes out, Cal gets the strike and of course it comes up [and deflects off Johnston].
‘Sometimes you need those breaks. You can’t always score the perfect goals.
‘But that had to do with the intention we had in the second half. We started breaking through more, making more runs, sacrificing ourselves more to get into good areas.
‘And when you play like that you obviously expect Ross County to get a little bit tired and the gaps start to appear. That’s just because of the speed of the ball – and the ball moves much faster.
“The second was a fantastic goal, a breakaway on that side. That’s what Nicolas does really well, because obviously we encourage a lot of square balls for low finishes, in the center of the goal. But when he plays against Kyogo, he is offside.
‘So he stays on it, makes the right decision, has one more touch and then finishes it so well. So yeah, I thought we deserved that. In the second half we are not under pressure. We still have to do the work to break through.
‘He [Kuhn] was absolutely brilliant. His fitness, he looks more robust now, which is important. While he’s releasing the games, he seems like a real threat to us. So you’re always hoping and wanting them to settle down.
‘He makes a big contribution. And that’s what your wingers need. They have to score and score goals, but also do the dirty side of the game. And he’s doing really well.’