O'NEIL AND THOMPSON PRAISE MARSHALL

Thompson's 61st minute strike ensured the unbeaten SPL leaders maintained their pursuit of the title with a 12th win in 14 games.

But later the former Aston Villa star confessed: "It might have looked an easy goal but I had to keep my concentration because the way the keeper was playing he might have saved it - he almost got to it.

"He had made a couple of good saves in the first half and then two more after half-time from Chris Sutton and Stilian Petrov, and it was going to take something lucky to beat him - I think that happened when the ball came through to me."

Thomspon struck after Sutton and Henrik Larsson both missed Didier Agathe's cross.

And boss O'Neill admitted: "When we didn't score from the little blitz we had after the interval, I thought we were never going to get a goal. Marshall was brilliant for them."

And the Parkhead manager said it was a "relief" to hear the final whistle because he feared third placed Killie were going to snatch an equaliser.

"They were very difficult, because Kilmarnock have been going on a good run but so have we. This is a hard place to come and before I would have settled for not getting beat, but to get three points is even better.

"I would have liked us to have killed the game off. Henrik Larsson had a few chances near the end but didn't take ones he would normally get with his eyes shut. I would have put my mortgage on him scoring."

O'Neill also praised Thompson's display. The £2.5million signing netted his second goal since signing from Aston Villa and O'Neill said: "He was outstanding, particularly in the second half. I thought he was masterly in midfield and the goal will give him a lot of confidence."

Thompson added: "This is a big month for us. All the games are so important. Now we have Bordeaux in the UEFA Cup and after that we've got three massive games, but the spirit in this side is great and we're looking out for each other. I think we have proved our title credentials."