CELTIC showed ‘what they are all about’ according to full-back Alistair Johnston after the champions dug deep with 10 men to overcome a potential banana skin against Livingston.
Joe Hart’s red card before half time gave Livi hope of getting back into a game that Celtic had dominated until that point, and that they were leading through Reo Hatate’s converted penalty.
But Brendan Rodgers’ men continued to assert their authority on proceedings even with a man fewer than their opponents, and Johnston believes that is a mark of the team they are.
“It’s difficult to tell right now whether this will be a result we look back on as being really important,” Johnston said.
“But I think it’s one that everyone looked at and thought it was a big chance for Celtic to drop points.
“We dug in there and found a way. In the second half, we actually played some of our best football.
“That’s not easy to do when you’re a man down but we scored some great goals.
“People might not necessarily remember the performance but for us it’s a good one to build on.
“We don’t listen to too much of what’s going on outside. Our heads were pretty screwed on the right way. just because the manager was pushing right from the get-go.
“[He said]: ‘look we didn’t get the result we wanted in midweek but this is a great chance for us to go out there and play our football and get back to winning ways’. And that’s something that we did. Three of the four stands being filled with Celtic fans going crazy definitely helps.
“When you look at it on the schedule it looks like a trap game but for us, we’ve got a group of really talented players and a really deep squad and we feel that whoever we put out there we have a good chance.
“When you have that mentality – even if you go down to 10 or nine – and score goals when you’re down a man it shows how talented this group is.
“We felt like it was another opportunity to show everyone what we’re all about and we did that today.”
