Celtic boss Ronny Deila was pleased after his side defeated Inverness CT 3-1 yesterday, despite not playing well.
The Hoops, who were knocked out of the Europa League on Thursday, following their 2-1 loss to Ajax, returned to winning ways at the Tulloch Caledonian Stadium, courtesy of strikes from Callum McGregor and Leigh Griffiths, and an own goal by Danny Devine.
The hard-fought win against Inverness helped Celtic to consolidate their place at the top of the Scottish Premiership with 39 points from 16 games, seven ahead of their nearest rivals Aberdeen.
And Deila, who oversaw his first win at Inverness since taking charge of Celtic last summer, underlined the importance of winning games by playing “ugly.”
“It was not a great game, but it’s very hard to expect too much when you’ve played a European game two-and-a-half days ago”, the manager explained to the club’s official site.
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“It’s a mental barrier you have to go through and sometimes you have to win a little bit ugly as well. We did that today.
“We played a team that wanted to play and had a lot of energy in their play. We have always struggled up there so it was very good to get three points.
“It’s the first time we’ve won there since I’ve been at the club so that’s good.”
Celtic will next face Hamilton Academical in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday before travelling to Turkey for their inconsequential Europa League game against Fenerbahce on 10th December.
Deila’s side defeated Hamilton 2-1 in the corresponding fixture in October.
