Ronny Deila paid tribute to his Celtic side - and the club's medical staff - after the 2-1 victory at Partick Thistle on Saturday afternoon.
The result, secured courtesy of goals from Leigh Griffiths and Callum McGregor, kept Celtic ahead of Aberdeen at the top and extended their unbeaten run to seven games.
Sean Welsh pulled a goal back with a penalty six minutes from time and Celtic saw out some nervy minutes before the final whistle.
Deila admitted that Griffiths, who scored his 35th goal of a prolific season at Firhill, had been an injury doubt before the lunchtime kick-off.
He said: "I'm just happy with the three points and the performance was good as well. We have been in these situations so many times, but we are getting better every game and we hope to build on that.
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"We have to concentrate on ourselves. Aberdeen have done very well, there are nine games left and we have to keep winning. It's in our own hands.
"We should have killed the game before. We had two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper and a lot of chances. That was a positive. We know we have good finishers in the team but today we weren't as effective as we normally are."
As to Griffiths, Deila said: "Big credit to the medical department and him for being ready, it was important as he scored again."
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Deila also singled out McGregor for special praise, highlighting the impressive attitude of the young prospect, who also scored against Morton in the Cup last weekend.
He said: "He's been very good in the last two or three months. He is showing a lot of confidence on the pitch, played very well today and he scored again which is important."
"Callum has worked really hard and has been fantastic at training for a long time. He always does extra and he got his reward for that today."
Thistle boss Alan Archibald claimed his side contributed to their own downfall. He said: "We were in the game in the first half and we had a couple of half chances but we lost a terrible goal at a terrible time.
"It came at a throw-in which was very disappointing. Once they got their goal, we allowed them to play and we sat off and you can't do that with Celtic. We need to get rid of the defensive lapses and take some points."
