RONNY DEILA, the Celtic manager, praise the debut contributions of Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong in the 3-0 win over Partick Thistle at Firhill but warned the pair were still not guaranteed to start against St Johnstone on Saturday.

Both players impressed on their first outing after joining from Dundee United on deadline day, Mackay-Steven scoring after just 38 seconds and Armstrong adding to Celtic's lead after half an hour. Stefan Johansen added a third in the second half to lift Celtic three points clear of Aberdeen at the top of the SPFL Premiership with a game in hand.

"We saw in training that [Gary and Stuart] are capable of playing at a high level and today they got a good start as well so I am delighted for them and the team as well," said the Norwegian.

"We are going to play three games a week for seven weeks in a row so we need all the players we have. People do not sit on the bench because they are bad but because we need fresh legs. The way we want to play football by pressing is hard on the players physically so we need to use the whole squad. Now I feel more comfortable about doing that."

His opposite number bemoaned a difficult night following the loss of such an early goal. "It's vital when you play Celtic that you don't give them goals - you've got to make them work for them," said Alan Archibald, the Thistle manager.