Everything Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou had to say to BBC Sportsound in the immediate aftermath of the 2-1 win over Motherwell at Fir Park...

What are your overriding emotions?

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It was a grind. We had to work awfully hard. Credit to Motherwell I thought they worked awfully hard themselves to disrupt our play. We just never got into any real sort of rhythm today. Especially in the first half, we just complicated things a bit and made things difficult for ourselves. But we found a way to win again. Particularly away from home in the Premiership, it's always a challenge but it's always good to get three points.

I guess you take a kind of different kind of pleasure from winning that way, do you?

It's not about taking pleasure it's just about, for us, maintaining our standards and the performance wasn't at the levels we want it to be but even when it's not that doesn't mean you can't win a game football. Part of the strength of this team is the character and resilience and, again, we found a way.

What didn't quite click for you this evening?

We just didn't have rhythm. In the first half we complicated the game. There were some pretty simple solutions out there for us. - we're at our best when we move the ball quickly and keep things simple. I just thought we were just trying to be a little too cute today with our football and we didn't really get a hold of the game, which we like to do. I guess that's why we had to struggle through it.

A couple of really good goals...

Good goals both of them. Great for Matty [O'Riley]. He's been doing a different job for us but he's really creative in the front third, showed some tenacity and it's a great ball across. Kyogo is where he should be. Really pleased for Daizen. It was a great goal, not an easy one. He had the control and the finish. And again, for us, the subs coming on are important and again we got a contribution [from them].

Maybe he [Maeda] was champing at the bit to get a goal...

Yeah, look, obviously he hasn't started the last couple of games but he put in a massive shift against Real Madrid. I'm always mindful with him because I know him well - I know he's better when he's fresh and he was raring to go. Really pleased for him.

I don't think there were too many contentious, VAR decisions... maybe the offside for Jota?

It was a great goal but if it's offside, it's offside. I've no problem with VAR, just use it when you need to. That's a perfect example - if that's offside and I haven't seen it then good time to use it.

It keeps that momentum going which obviously is important going into the final game before the World Cup and Ross County at home...

Yeah that'll be another tough game. We've had a couple of good results and we know it's always a tough battle and we've got to finish strong now. It's 14 games now - we've had eight away from home and only six at home so the fact that we're going so strong is good but we've got to make sure we finish strong on Saturday.


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