Martin Hannan: Neil Lennon prepares to manage without his late rescuers

CELTIC will lose the two men who dug them out of a hole by scoring late goals in yesterday's 2-0 win over St Johnstone for up to a month as Cha Du Ri and Ki Sung Yeung depart today for the Asian Cup.

Manager Neil Lennon was a relieved man when Celtic struck twice in injury time to deny St Johnstone an away point. "It was a very frustrating day until the first goal went in," said Lennon. "We had to wait a long time for that. But I'm delighted for the players because they kept plugging away.

"It was vital, not just in terms of the points, but also the feeling around the club. That includes the players, the staff and the supporters. But I could have strangled both of them before Cha scored. You fancy Ki to hit the target with his two free kicks and Cha kept getting into good positions and hitting the first man."

Celtic will miss their Korean duo, admitted Lennon. "I have been delighted with their performances over the last couple of months," he said, "and we will miss them. Cha is an under-rated player. He is one of those who lacks a wee bit of composure on the final ball at times but his application is tremendous. It was a marvellous goal."

The Korean leaves on a high note, saying he was 'flying' after his goal. He said: "I'm very, very happy to score my first goal for Celtic, especially as it was a very important one. We'd drawn three home games in a row so it was vital we won today and I was pleased to help with the first goal. Fantastic.

"St Johnstone got players back in their own half and that's never easy to play against. I'm a little disappointed with the reaction from the fans. Now is not an easy situation for the team.

"We need the support from the fans. It's disappointing that they booed after the first half, but I think we showed character in coming back to win."

St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes said: "We defended with a confidence and a discipline and we frustrated Celtic with our hard work. But all that just compounded the pain when we lost the goal. I thought we deserved a draw. I have been here with teams before and felt a goal was coming when Celtic mounted pressure but I didn't think that today, which compounded the disappointment. Any late goal is hard to take and even harder against good teams like Celtic.

"Credit to Cha for his goal, you can't take anything away from his finish. He has played at a World Cup and you could see the quality in his finish. It's just a pity he hadn't been called away before we played Celtic."