Celtic boss hails fringe benefits

With injuries to a number of key players such as captain Scott Brown and midfielder Charlie Mulgrew, Deila has been forced to turn to some of his utility players to help them in their quest for a fifth league title in a row.

Callum McGregor was handed his first league start in over a year and rewarded his manager's faith by opening the scoring in the seventh minute with a superb solo strike while Scott Allan, who has featured sparingly since his summer move from Hibernian, helped set up the second goal for Leigh Griffiths after coming on as a second half substitute.

It followed on from impressive performances in an otherwise disappointing 2-1 defeat to Ajax on Thursday and Deila was happy to see the players make the most of their opportunities.

"That is always nice to see when people are coming back from being out of the team or are having a bad time," Deila said.

"Scott Allan has worked really hard all the time. He's been very patient and showed in training that he's ready if he gets the chance.

"Twice this week he has really shown that he can compete at this level and I'm very pleased with him.

"Callum has also been working really hard and has found himself back in the team again. That makes the whole team stronger.

"It's so important that when you have bad times that you look into yourself to see what you can do better to get better.

"You really need to want to do the hard work and those two have been unbelievable in that way. Now they just need to keep on working and doing the same things and hopefully they will be given more time."

Former West Ham forward Carlton Cole was also handed his Celtic debut in the match and played a part in helping the champions get a controversial third in the 85th minute as he bundled the ball in off Inverness defender Danny Devine for an own goal.

"Carlton hasn't played for half a year. He's been injured for a while and he needs time to really get going," Deila added.

"He needs playing time as well. He was good today but I think there is a lot more to see from Carlton."

The result extends Celtic's advantage at the top of the Scottish Premiership to seven points above Aberdeen, who leapfogged Hearts into second place after they could only manage a 2-2 draw with Motherwell on Saturday.

Despite being knocked out of the Europa League, Celtic continue to dominate domestically and are odds on to clinch their fifth league title in a row.

However, Deila was keen to point out that nothing can be taken for granted.

"The league is not even close to being over. We are not even halfway yet and there are so many games left," the Celtic manager said.

"We have to perform. It's always tough in the autumn with European football alongside the league. I think we have coped with the league very well but we also have to develop and be better during the season so we can be even stronger next year.

"Hopefully we will win the league and some cups as well and be ready for Europe again."