Martin O’Neill has admitted Celtic are walking a tightrope in the title race, with no room for mistakes after a narrow 1-0 win over Falkirk on Wednesday night.
While Celtic toiled at the Falkirk Stadium, Hearts were also in action and also took care of business, despite being reduced to 10 men in the first half.
St Mirren had the ball in the net twice, but both goals were ruled offside, and Hearts ran out 2-0 winners to keep their six-point lead at the top intact.
Celtic, meanwhile, scraped past Falkirk thanks to Benjamin Nygren’s goal. It wasn’t vintage, it wasn’t pretty, but in a title race as tight as this, three points are all that matter.
The three points put Celtic back above Rangers, only on goal difference but still ahead.
Speaking after the match, O’Neill said: [TCW]
“Hearts have won as well too, and our margin of error is very, very small really. We dropped a lot of points where winning tonight was the most important thing. We can play much better and we will.
“Having said this, there are some really decent performances. Kasper makes a great save for us, really, really great save, which he has been doing all his life, in all honesty, and particularly when his dad was here. So, there you are, emulating the father, can’t be bad.”
Celtic move second, a goal better than Rangers and six behind Hearts, with 16 league games remaining. There can be no more slip-ups.
Martin O’Neill’s side needs to be perfect to claw back the gap, and to do so, they will need help from January recruits.
The Hoops have until 11 pm on February 2 to add to their team, but hopefully, quality players are in the squad well before then.
