Neil Lennon believes Celtic deserved to secure victory over the Buddies

Celtic manager Neil Lennon praised his side after Gary Hooper's late strike secured a 1-0 victory over St Mirren.

"It was a brilliant performance and I thought we went right at it from start to finish," he told BBC Scotland.

"We lacked a cutting edge in the final third in the first half. But, with the chances we created in the second half, we should've been out of sight.

"I would've been happy with a draw but the expectation level at this club is huge and I think justice was done."

St Mirren frustrated Celtic for long spells as the visitors appeared set to fall further behind league leaders Rangers.

But Hooper's 92nd minute strike saw them narrow the gap to a single point, much to the delight of a relieved Lennon.

"Defensively we were very good as well," he added. "It's hard to break teams down when they've got so many men behind the ball.

"In the end, McGinn and McCourt came on and we got the breakthrough.

"I said to them at half-time 'be patient, I'll wait until the 93rd minute to win it if I have to'.

"It would've been easy to get frustrated because we missed some gilt-edged chances today.

"We were getting frustrated, but to the players' credit they kept going. There were some magnificent performances.

"We put some decent crosses in but didn't really have anyone getting on the end of things.

"All our substitutes made an impact, but credit to the team as they kept going. And credit to St Mirren as they made it very difficult, they were very dogged and committed.

"I thought our supporters were impeccable as well. Maloney and Ki were absolutely magnificent. I'm delighted with the three points and delighted with the three points after Wednesday."

Lennon also said that he thought referee Iain Brines had a "fine game".

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