Kelechi Iheanacho earns Celtic plaudits but one player left 'pretty down' despite Dundee victory

The Celtic manager was speaking after Iheanacho’s late strike secured a vital three points against a Dundee side who battled every inch of the way, even when reduced to ten men following Ryan Astley’s red card near the end.

O’Neill knew there was little margin for error. Celtic are still in the title race having taken advantage of Hearts dropping two points at Livingston earlier in the day. Although the champions remain in third place, they are only three points behind the leaders and two points behind Rangers having played the same number of games.

Celtic took the lead early on through Hyun-jun Yang but after being pegged back by Simon Murray’s penalty spot equaliser in the second half, it looked like Cvancara might be given reason to rue spurning several good chances to score.

But Iheanacho, his replacement after 58 minutes, saved the day for the champions with his first goal since October with just eight minutes remaining. The striker, who has endured a stop-start season due to injury, has not scored many more important goals in recent times. O’Neill described him as “buzzing” in the away dressing room after his contribution.

“He has had a really frustrating time in recent weeks,” he said. “When I arrived first of all he was recovering from a hamstring injury, which I think he got about five minutes into a game. Wilfried (Nancy) put him into the side and he pulled it again in the League Cup final.

“He has been fighting back from that,” he added. “I had a chat with him. He has been a really fine player in his career. At 29 he should be at the peak of his career rather than scratching around. That’s the point. He scores and he can hold the ball up, he is good at that. He might not be able to run the channels but at the end of the day he can hold the ball up, that’s his trademark really. He has played for Manchester City. I suppose that was some time ago….but that will do him a world of good.”

Celtic have struggled to find a goalscoring centre forward this season and Cvancara’s difficulties are a case in point. He cut a very different figure to Iheanacho in the dressing-room.

“Naturally, he was pretty down after the game,” said O’Neill. “Even though we had the win, he was down because he hasn’t scored. He needs to score. In his mind, he needs to score a goal. Some of the chances that he had today, I think he could have easily had two anyway. It becomes frustrating because no matter what you say, centre-forwards are those things, they thrive on scoring goals. The confidence is big when you put the ball in the net. So it’s a frustrating time for him today.”

O’Neill praised his team for getting the job done in difficult conditions at a blowy Dens Park. “We’re still in it and still have a lot to ponder,” he said. “I think that if we had dropped points today, it would have been a long, long way back. I’m not saying it was finished, but it was a long way back.

‘The games are difficult,” he added. “They are honestly, they’re really difficult. So we need to try and beat St Mirren next week so that you go into the split—I think we’ve got three at home and two away. But there’s no room for us [to slip up]. It seems as if there’s never been any room for us. But if we had dropped points today, I think that would have been a long way back for us.”