Ronny Deila has revealed that Leigh Griffiths was an injury worry before today’s match against Partick Thistle.
The Scotland striker opened the scoring just before half time with his 35th goal of the season as Celtic went four points ahead of Aberdeen thanks to a 2-1 win at Firhill.
Speaking after the match Deila revealed: “He was just very stiff in his calf and couldn’t run 100 per cent, but he had two days on it and he was ready today. He was stiffening up in end and that’s why we took him off.
“Big credit goes to the medical department and to him to ready for the game, so that was important and he scored again.
“Hopefully he scores as many as possible. He’s an important player for us and he keeps on scoring which is fantastic for us and him, and the team put him in good situations as well which is good.”
Callum McGregor increased Celtic’s lead early in the second half with the midfielder scoring in back-to-back matches after losing his place in the side after being charged with drink driving.
Deila added: “Callum has been very good in the last two or three months but had a break because of other circumstances.
“He is showing a lot of confidence on the pitch, he played very well today and scored again which is important.
“Callum has worked really hard and has been fantastic at training for a long time. He always does extra and he got his reward for that today.”
The game should have been done and dusted long before Thistle scored a late penalty with the Celtic boss looking for his players to brush up around goal.
“We should have killed the game before,” Deila added. “We had two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper and a lot of chances.
“That was a positive. We know we have good finishers in the team but today we weren’t as effective as we normally are.
“I’m just happy with the three points and the performance was good as well.”
