'It is a big statement' - St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson reacts to Celtic Park defeat and makes admission over winning goal

St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson believes how the second half wound to a conclusion showed just how much his team had pushed their hosts before succumbing to a 2-1 defeat.

Conor McMenamin celebrates after heading St Mirren into a 1-0 at Celtic Park. (Photo by Alan Harvey / SNS Group)

He found no “consolation” in being beaten by a “fantastic” 83rd minute strike by Oh Hyeon-gyu but how Brendan Rodgers men safeguarded their advantage at the close testified to the sterling effort from his men.

“When Celtic make that many changes - four changes - to beat us and keep the ball in the corner at the end, it shows they were in a tough, tough game,” he said. “Sometimes you look to find fault, but sometimes you have to hold your hands up. We got beaten by a fantastic goal. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do about it.

“This team has no fear. They don’t play with fear, they play with quality. We don’t get recognised for some of the football we play but the first goal was excellent. We nearly scored a couple of fantastic goals from playing under pressure in that last 15 minutes. I have nothing but credit and praise for the players. Of course we are disappointed but to be disappointed shows we have come a long way. We are a good side. I have a lot of confidence in these players. The staff and Dermot O’Carroll deserve a mention because they have done a lot of work behind the scenes with the analysis. We only had two days to prepare for arguably the hardest game of the season. And everything we tried to do, the game plan worked perfectly. We were able to hit them on the break with Toy [Olutoysi Olusanya] at times, but we got beat by quality. Every team in the country coming here you need your goalie to have a very good game, and we did in Zach Hemming.

“They are a top side, have very good players, but they certainly will know they were in a game. Which is no consolation to the points, to the result, but in terms of the overall picture in terms of where we are trying to go and what we are trying to achieve, I think it is a big statement in terms of performance.”