Martin O’Neill says Celtic ought to have been awarded a clear penalty, but is still thrilled to overcome Aberdeen.
In Celtic’s third fixture in six days, the side did enough to secure victory on a tricky pitch, with Kieran Tierney and Benjamin Nygren netting the goals.
The triumph lifts the Hoops back above Rangers in the Scottish Premiership, after spending the past few weeks a match behind their two chief title challengers in the standings.
O’Neill has responded to the victory.
Martin O’Neill on Celtic win vs Aberdeen
O’Neill told BBC Sportsound after the match: “It was a tough evening, which I expected anyway. We certainly got that, but it was nice to come through and win the game.
“We scored early on in proceedings, I felt we should’ve asserted a bit more superiority, we let Aberdeen into the game, they get a penalty, and then you’re forced in the second half to try and conjure something.
“Which we did; we found the goal to go 2-1. Could’ve scored a couple towards the end as well, it would’ve been nice if that was the case, it wasn’t to be.
“But we showed resilience to fight it through until the end.
“It wasn’t the case [that we asserted our dominance], and out of everybody in the ground, if there’s one person who didn’t think that, that’s myself.
“I think just after we’d scored, I think that was the time to put a lot of pressure on. I thought as though we almost relaxed in that aspect.
“And then we allowed the penalty – I thought we should’ve had a penalty, you know. It looked as if we should’ve had a penalty, it looked as if it was a relatively clear handball.
“But that said, we’ve won the game in the end.”