Brendan Rodgers was far more relaxed in the Fir Park media room than he had been in the Celtic dug out during the second half of his side’s 3-1 win over Motherwell.
The scoreline fails to do the match justice but the chest-beating and celebrations from the players and management at the end of the match are a better reflection on the drama.
After an insipid, at best first 45 minutes there were half a dozen players that Rodgers could have replaced but Kyogo Furuhashi was the only player substituted, five minutes into the second half Adam Idah justified that decision with a powerful header to draw Celtic level.
Motherwell bounced straight back but from the hour mark Celtic dominated, more so when Yang Hyun-jun was sent down the right wing to connect with Alistair Johnstone with two stoppage time goals coming from that source.
The full time scenes were similar to those earlier this month at Easter Road, again it was Idah to the rescue as Celtic used up another life in their battle to retain the Premiership title.
Celtic’s never good for the blood pressure, that’s for sure! It never is. It shows the belief, and that has to be at the forefront of everything because that comes before performance.
Before you go out onto the pitch, you need to believe, and that’s what we work on with the players. It hasn’t been the most fluent this season for so many reasons, but now I think we are getting some key players back and it is starting to really stiffen it up for us.
It allows us to have that base to attack the games, and they have that belief to keep going. It is what this club is known for, and every group has to have it. If you play for Celtic, you need to keep going until the very end.
The true take on the win and performance at Motherwell will probably only become clear on Wednesday night following Celtic’s match against Dundee.
If the team can turn in a commanding 90 minutes that sees them scoring three goals or more then the performance at Fir Park might be the turning point that Rodgers has been looking for.
Since returning from their staycation winter break Celtic have barely been able to put in a solid 90 minutes.
Similar sentiments were expressed after Idah’s late penalty had secured a win away to Hibs but in their next SPFL match Celtic toiled to a home draw against Kilmarnock, falling apart from the hour mark. Kilmarnock’s equaliser had been on the cards, when David Watson outjumped Alexandro Bernabei to score no-one inside Celtic Park was surprised.
On Wednesday Celtic return to the scene of that ‘crime’ with 11 matches left to play every match has to be won if they are to make the two remaining Glasgow Derbies meaningful.
CLICK HERE for Idah and Rodgers celebrate at Fir Park.
CLICK HERE for Celtic’s results and fixtures this season.
