Brendan Rodgers praised the resilience of his Celtic players after they came from behind to claim a dramatic late victory 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 domestic defeat of the season.
Despite a laboured performance, they rallied and scored twice in the final 15 minutes through Alistair Johnston and Nicolas Kuhn.
Kuhn’s 88th-minute winner preserved Celtic’s 100 per cent record in domestic competitions in the new campaign.
Praising his side for their response to the 7-1 thrashing by Borussia Dortmund, Rodgers said: ‘We deserved to win the game, but, in the first half, we were too slow and too passive.
‘It wasn’t very good in the first half. It was too slow from us and we didn’t create enough. You have to give big credit to Ross County and their organisation.
Kuhn, left, and McGowan wheel away in delight after German’s winning goal
Celtic boss Rodgers congratulates Kuhn following dramatic late goal
Relief for Celtic after Kuhn made it 2-1 for champions with two minutes remaining
‘I don’t think there was a lot happening either way in the game, but certainly the onus was on us with the team that has the ball to do more with it.
‘So, in the second half, especially when the subs come on, we bring a new energy to the game. We got what we deserved in the end.
‘I’ve got absolutely 100 per cent confidence in the resilience of this team.
‘Resilience, whatever way you dress it up, that’s all about grit and determination and fight – and we had that in bucketloads today.
‘We had to show that and the players did. It’s been a really, really busy spell for us.
‘We’ve played seven games now over the course of three competitions in 23 days and the players have won six of those – and the loss was against the Champions League finalists. So I tip my hat to them.
Ronan Hale, above right, gave Ross County a shock lead with his retaken penalty
Full back Johnston equalised for Celtic in the 76th minute of a tense encounter
Kuhn then sent the travelling support wild with his late intervention
‘It’s been a really, really good period for us and we’ll learn from a game today because the new guys coming in will see there’s no easy game and you can’t look for it either.
‘You’ve got 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, albeit their record of successive clean sheets has gone.
Hale’s penalty, initially saved by Kasper Schmeichel before being dispatched at the second attempt after the Celtic keeper was judged to have come off his line, was the first goal the champions have conceded domestically this season.
Celtic showed greater urgency in the second half, however, and played at a higher tempo, with a shot from Callum McGregor deflecting in off Johnston before Kuhn netted the late winner.
Pleased with how his team kept going until the final whistle, Rodgers added: ‘You have to [keep going]. It’s a Celtic tradition, isn’t it?
‘It’s how the game is played at this club. Because, if you look over the course of this week, we had thousands of fans turn up in Dortmund.
‘They’ve seen what they’ve seen, which wasn’t great, but they give us great support at the end of the game.
‘Now they’re having to come up here for a 12 o’clock kick-off, so the very least you can do is run your heart out right to the very end. That’s what this club’s about. It’s the fabric of this club. You keep going to the end.
‘We got a bit of luck on the first goal but we’ve had sustained pressure in there. The corner comes out, Cal gets the strike and it obviously comes up [and deflects off Johnston].
‘Sometimes you need those breaks. You can’t score the perfect goals all the time.
‘But that was then down to the intent that we had in the second half. We were starting to break through more, make more runs, sacrifice themselves more to get into good areas.
‘And then naturally when you play that way, then you’re looking at Ross County going to tire a little bit so the gaps start to open up. That just comes from the speed of the ball – and the ball moving much quicker.
‘The second was a fantastic goal, a breakout on that side. It’s what Nicolas does really, really well, because obviously we encourage a lot of square balls for low finishes, centre of the goal. But, if he plays it to Kyogo, he’s offside.
‘So he stays on it, makes the right decision, has another touch and then finishes it so well. So, yeah, I felt we deserved that. We’re under no pressure in the second half. We still have to do the work to break through.
‘He [Kuhn] has been absolutely brilliant. His fitness, he’s looking more robust now, which is important. Churning out the games, he looks a real threat for us. So you always hope and you want them to settle.
‘He’s contributing in a big way. And that’s what you need your wingers to do. They need to create and score goals, but also do the dirty side of the game. And he’s doing it really, really well.’