Celtic boss Martin O’Neill lavished reward on Hyun-jun Yang after the winger signed off by scoring the winner in a 2-1 victory over St Mirren final night time.
Yang was the hero as Celtic got here from 1-0 down to say their fifth straight win at first of the brand new season, extending their lead on the prime of the desk to 5 factors.
The South Korean will now head off to symbolize his nation within the Asian Video games – and can miss Celtic’s subsequent 4 matches in opposition to St Johnstone, Rangers (twice) and Ferencvaros.
There may be additionally an opportunity that Yang may very well be required to spend a time frame doing nationwide service, relying on how the South Koreans fare within the match.
Admitting he can be an enormous loss, O’Neill stated of the in-form winger: ‘Yang was good and he has been improbable for me. We’re going to miss him, no query.
‘It was an ideal cross from Camilo Duran however Yang nonetheless has to complete it off. He’s in superb type and I hope he goes and wins the match together with his nation.
Celtic winger Hyun-jun Yang celebrates his successful purpose in opposition to St Mirren in Paisley
‘He has signed off with an excellent purpose. He’s in nice type — and he’ll give you the results you want going backwards as nicely. He doesn’t thoughts doing the arduous graft.’
Towards a St Mirren facet who additionally got here into the match unbeaten, Celtic fell behind to a penalty from Nikolas Agrafiotis within the first half. However O’Neill’s males rallied after the break and levelled the match via a Liam Scales header, earlier than a fast breakaway noticed Camilo Duran feed Yang for the winner.
It was an evening of a number of VAR controversies, together with two extra targets for Celtic which have been dominated out for offside. However the officers had points with their headsets, in addition to the accuracy of the traces being displayed on the display.
‘You can’t have fun any extra till this stuff are totally determined,’ stated O’Neill. ‘However I’m delighted that we’ve gained the sport.
‘St Mirren performed splendidly, as we thought they’d do, and brought about us a great deal of issues.
‘They acquired in entrance, we had a purpose disallowed for offside which will need to have been very, very tight.
‘We go in at half-time behind in opposition to a group that’s been in glowing type, so I’m delighted that we gained.
‘We didn’t fairly have the fluency that we’ve proven in current video games, however delighted we’ve gained.
Yang’s purpose helped Celtic keep their excellent begin to the season with 5 wins from 5
‘On the break we have been very harmful, however we couldn’t put the sport past St Mirren. There have been some sparking moments from us.
‘We scored at an necessary second too, we got here out the second half and we regarded as if we have been dominant, however simply couldn’t break them down.
‘Then instantly we get the nook and rating the purpose, which supplies us a significant carry too. General although, we will enhance.’
Celtic captain Callum McGregor added: ‘Significantly better second half. win, necessary as a result of we in all probability wasted 45 minutes.
‘We’re a group that need to go ahead and rating targets, so it’s important to depend on the blokes on the again to bail you out typically.
‘We know how we would like the sport to look, so it’s about reinforcing that to the boys coming in.
‘Yang is a extremely necessary a part of the group. He’s an enormous participant to overlook, however clearly we want him the very best [at the Asian Games].’
