Matchwinning Korean jets off for Asian Games – and needs to win to avoid national service
Martin O’Neill praised the contribution of Hyunjun Yang as the Korean signed off for the next month by claiming the winning goal as Celtic battled past St Mirren.
O’Neill admitted that his team had been poor in the first half as they trailed courtesy of Nikolas Agrafiotis’ penalty but rallied to claim a fifth successive Premiership win courtesy of Liam Scales’ header and then a clinical finish from Yang.
The winger will now miss Celtic’s next four matches as he joins up with the South Korea squad for the Asian Games and O’Neill was pleased to see him head out on a high.
He said: “We are going to miss him. He’s in really fine form at the moment so we’re really disappointed. If Korea don’t win the tournament, then he has to do national service. So I hope they do win it.
“But he’s signed off with a brilliant goal. He’s in great form and he’ll work for you going backwards. He doesn’t mind doing that hard graft.”
O’Neill felt his team needed a touch of inspiration after toiling for long spells to break down their hosts who lost in the league for the first time this season.
He added: “St Mirren did not surprise me at all, not in the least. They were really up for it, they played very, very well indeed, caused us plenty of problems, and took the lead.
“There was a 10 or 15 minute spell in the first half where I thought that we were well and truly second best. We came out with renewed energy, renewed determination in the second half, got the equalising goal, went on to win it. But it was a tough evening for us.”
Scales endured a mixed evening, conceding the penalty that gave St Mirren the lead before atoning with his headed goal in the second half. But O’Neill remains an unalloyed fan.
He added: “I love Scales. I think he’s great. I think that last week he went and played left back. He’s a centre-half and yet we’re asking him almost to play like a wide left-hand side player at times.
“That he is not, but he has got a massive heart. He’s been brilliant. A couple of times I’ve been here, he’s been absolutely fantastic. Really, really fantastic. And I said to him the last game we played, I don’t know what the club would do without him.”
McLeish can’t criticise his players
St Mirren could have rescued a point even after falling behind but missed a raft of good chances to find a late equaliser. But manager Craig McLeish couldn’t bring himself to criticise his players.
He said: “The boys are in there quite disappointed and quite hurt that we’ve not picked up a point, or at least a point. I thought there were so many good parts about our play as well.
“Probably the little bit of frustration was when we were a wee bit loose in possession. The first half, Celtic’s chances come from us giving the ball away at times when we should be more secure on it.
“And then even the second goal that comes from us not being secure on the ball. We can then turn round and have a pop at the boys for that. We’re asking them to play, we’re asking them to be brave on the ball. We just need to keep doing it better at times, we need to keep building on it. Throughout the night we carried a threat.
“Even when we go 2-1 down, we show so much bravery and personality to keep going and keep playing. We probably have our strongest spell of the game and create some really good chances. Probably unlucky not to take one of them.
“It probably shows where we’re at and what we’re trying to do as a group. We’re so disappointed with not coming away with anything.”