Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has showered praises on Kelechi Iheanacho, following his winner in their 2-1 triumph at 10-man Dundee on Sunday.
The Hoops had fallen behind in the title race, but the win now moves them to just three points behind league leaders Hearts and two behind Rangers, with just six games to go.
Iheanacho, who joined the club last summer, had endured an injury-troubled campaign and this goal was just his fourth for the club and his first since October, ending a six-month run without a goal.
Yang Hyun-Jun opened the scoring with an eighth minute effort, but the home side leveled matters in the 57th minute, scoring through the spot from Simon Murray.
However, Iheanacho would have the final say on the scoreline, grabbing the winner in the 82nd minute after only coming on in the second half.
Related: What Iheanacho said after scoring first Celtic goal in six months
Dundee were reduced to 10 later in the half after Ryan Astley was sent off in the 84th minute, as Celtic held on to seal a 2-1 win.
O’Neill reacts to Iheanacho’s goal against Dundee
Martin O’Neill, who returned to the club earlier this season and has since steered them back into the title race, heaped praise on Kelechi Iheanacho following the Nigerian striker’s impressive goalscoring display for Celtic.
“Iheanacho came on and scored the goal which wins the game for us. Naturally, we’re delighted and we’re still in the picture”, O’Neill said.
“I know he’s had a frustrating time, but he’s been a really fine player in his career and he can find the net.”
The Celtic boss also hailed his side’s overall performance, but urged them to improve on their chance conversion heading into the final rounds of games for the season.
“We played last and that is difficult. You’re trying not to think about what has happened either the previous day or a few hours earlier, but for us today we just had to win”, the 74-year-old added.
“There’s no room for error at all, and if we had dropped points today that would have been very difficult to fight back. We should have been out of sight in the first half.
“We missed quite a number of chances. I always felt it might just come back to haunt us, really. Dundee having the advantage of the wind in the second half, down whatever particular slope it is as well.
But for us, conceding the penalty, we could have just keeled in and said, ‘well, that’s not going to be our day’. We fought back. It was great for us to win the game”, he continued.
“It keeps us there, we’re still fighting on. For us to win today, that was a really big success and it keeps us in it.
“Naturally, I’m just delighted for the crowd. The crowd were magnificent the whole afternoon. Kept us going in all honesty.
“Six games to go, three points between the top three”, O’Neill concluded.
Celtic will be hoping to close the gap to the top two when they face St Mirren in their next outing on Saturday at Celtic Park.
