Celtic captain Kieran Tierney says the power of the Parkhead crowd can fuel the Hoops’ push for the Premiership title.
The Scottish champions secured a crucial 3-1 victory against Motherwell, with fans roaring the team on despite recent controversies and bad blood from last week’s Ibrox scenes.
Tierney was full of praise for the supporters, insisting their backing lifted the players on the pitch:
“I think (the fans make a difference) and even in the second half you could see it more so and that’s down to us because we gave them more to get behind.
“We were attacking better, we were pressing better and I think the second half is how it should be going forward.
“You can see the benefit for that. The players want all the fans behind us, we want the atmosphere to be brilliant. Celtic Park is what it’s known for so we’re delighted when it’s like that.”
The Hoops fell behind to an early Elijah Just strike but roared back thanks to goals from Yang Hyun-jun and a Tomas Cvancara penalty. Tierney reflected on the win and the team’s fighting mentality:
“It was a big win. I think at this stage of the season, every win is going to be big and the next game is going to be the biggest.
“Martin was talking about the spirit of the team behind such a high pressure. If you look back over the course of the season, the amount of last minute winners we’ve scored and points won late in the games, it shows the mentality of the squad.
“Of course you would not want to be doing that every week but today, I think the second half especially played really well, showed what we can play like.”
Yang Hyun-jun’s Stellar Performance Praised by O’Neill
Manager Martin O’Neill was full of praise for Yang, who looked set to leave for Birmingham City in the summer but has been a revelation for the Hoops this season:
*”Yang was sensational. Really, really great. He scored the goals, a big, big boost. It was the work that he did going backwards as well.
“I wouldn’t know what sort of distances he covered, but it would have been immense. I believe that he was about to leave the football club in August time, which has been a wee bit strange, I must admit.
“What he’s done in my two spells here has been, I couldn’t have asked for any more, really.
“Not too far behind him was Daizen Maeda. I thought he was great in terms of what he does for the team.
“Yang’s performance was just, as I said, immense. I don’t know what was happening before. The first time I saw him, he played wide left in a little seven-a-side game here. My first week or something, I guess, in the training session.
“He left the full-back for absolute dead. Turned both ways, he could go both ways. I said to him, I thought that he might even be better on the left-hand side.
“He said it didn’t matter to him. The way he played today, I’ll go with it.”*
Cvancara Shows Nerves of Steel from the Spot
O’Neill also singled out Tomas Cvancara, who confidently slotted home the penalty that put Celtic back in control:
*”I think Cvancara took the ball off Alex, believe it or not. So that was big, because everything riding on the game, he took the penalty.
“He obviously had a bit of confidence from scoring on Sunday. But it was a big moment, because like a lot of us, we still have to win the crowd over. So he took it, and that’s well done to him.
“He helped make the goal for Yang, the last goal, which gives you a bit of a cushion. It was a great win, a great win for us. Naturally, I’m delighted with it. I thought it was a really good game of football.
“Motherwell are very fine football inside, no question about that. It was one of those where you just felt it was going to be really open. That’s what it proved to be. Motherwell are very dangerous throughout the game. We fought back brilliantly to win, so it was great.”*
With Celtic now closing in on Hearts at the top of the Scottish Premiership, the Hoops will look to carry this momentum into the final stretch of the season – and Tierney believes Parkhead’s fan power will be pivotal every step of the way.