Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hails his team's defensive display against Kilmarnock

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was happy with another solid defensive display from his players in the 1-0 win over Kilmarnock.

The Hoops moved 13 points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the Scottish Premiership, ahead of the rest of the weekend fixtures, thanks to a goal from Stuart Armstrong 90 seconds before half-time.

Kilmarnock goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald made decent stops from Callum McGregor and Patrick Roberts early in the second half to keep his side in the match.

And while Celtic conceded territory in the latter stages at Rugby Park, the visitors stood firm to record a seventh successive clean sheet in domestic games.

Rodgers shuffled his defence through injury and players returning on Thursday from international duty, and he brought in Dedryck Boyata for his first appearance since April and dropped midfielder McGregor into the left-back role.

"You can see the solidity of the team, how we have been building that defensive philosophy," Rodgers said.

"With the two-week break, having hardly had any of the players, changing around the team, playing on astroturf, it was a brilliant result.

"Nights like this are very, very important, coming away when it's absolutely freezing. We had to dig in towards the end. It's a great feeling to win after not being together for two weeks.

"First half we played very well, made a couple of mistakes in build-up play but sometimes that happens when you are building the game.

"But in the main we were slick, our movement was good, good patience, got in between and created chances. We looked really exciting going forward and scored a goal just before half-time. It was a very good finish."

Kilmarnock counterpart Lee Clark praised his team for their disciplined and spirited performance.

Clark said: "I'm disappointed for the players. The game plan worked defensively.

"We stayed in the game and second half we grew into it as an attacking team. We were the team on the front foot and it was Celtic who were hitting us on the counter-attack.

"The players' efforts and quality at times deserved more but sometimes we lacked a little bit of quality in the final third, which is the hardest part, picking out the final pass. But I couldn't ask for any more from the players. They were terrific."

Rodgers agreed with the Killie boss that the home side had worked hard to frustrate Celtic.

"Give Kilmarnock credit, they came out and threw everything at it. Lee's team did him proud in the second half," Rodgers said.

"We didn't have as many sequences of passing and it led to us playing a little bit on the counter-attack. We had chances to finish the game and just didn't quite get the final pass."