Lennon was pleased to see his side defend so well for long periods

Manager Danny Lennon was distraught to see St Mirren fall to an injury-time strike from Celtic striker Gary Hooper.

"I thought the boys were absolutely fantastic," he said. "I just felt that we needed a wee bit more belief and bit more about us going forward.

"We got that reaction at half time and we were the more likely side in the 20-25 minute period after the break.

"But it's Celtic. They did have a lot of the ball and they have so many talented individuals."

In the 81st minute, with the score at 0-0, Lennon elected to take off forward Gareth Wardlaw and replace him with defender David Barron.

But the home side's stubborn rearguard action was undone in the final few minutes when Hooper stabbed in a cross from Pat McCourt at the second time of asking.

When asked about the switch by BBC Radio Scotland, Lennon defended his tactics.

"At that stage of the game I could see the swing in momentum," he explained.

"They were starting to stretch us and we had one one or two tired legs out there.

"These are decision that you have to live or die by and I wouldn't change that again.

"It's a lack of concentration (that led to the goal). I thought we had the right personnel to deal with it.

"A striker's not going to go in there and stop that cross coming in."

Lennon had words of praise for teenage midfielder Kenny McLean, who was making his home debut, and took satisfaction from his side's obdurate display.

"I thought Kenny McLean came on to an outstanding game after the first 10-15 minutes, for such a young lad," he said.

"He's a player and we just need to keep bringing them in gradually. He'll take great confidence from that.

"But the most pleasing thing for me is that we are looking difficult to beat.

"It would have been nice to have taken something from the game but we are now coming into a critical period and if my team can keep going and improving then we won't be too far away from what we are trying to achieve this season.

"Like we had in the second half there, we need big hearts and big performances."

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