ANGE POSTECOGLOU thought striker Oh Hyeon-gyu was a tower of strength in Celtic’s hard-fought 3-1 win over Hibs at rainswept Parkhead this afternoon.
The game was balanced at 1-1 when the manager threw on the South Korean for midfielder Matt O’Riley as he changed his formation against 10-man opponents who had seen Elie Youan dismissed after only 24 minutes following his second yellow card.
The powerful Oh came close with two efforts before he put the Hoops ahead with nine minutes of the regulation 90 to go.
David Turnbull, who had come on early as a replacement for the injured Reo Hatate, slung in a dangerous corner-kick from the right and there was the usual jostling in a packed penalty box.
The 6ft-plus January recruit, who has alteady claimed two goals, refused to be bullied by the visitors’ defenders and threw himself full-length at the ball to bullet an unstoppable header past David Marshall low to his right.
That proved the turning point in a game where stubborn opponents fought for everything after going ahead in the first-half with a VAR-instructed penalty-kick from Josh Campbell.
Filipe Jota levelled with a spot-kick shortly after the interval before Oh made his dramatic intrusion and Sead Haksabanovic made certain four minutes into stoppage time.
Speaking about the qualities of new Bhoy Oh, Postecoglou said: “He’s a good player and he will be a good player for us.
“We’re easing him into things here and he’s still learning a lot, but you watch him at training every day and he’s got a real presence about him inside the penalty box, and it was good for him to get the goal today.
“I thought when he came on he made a difference just with his physicality.”
The Hoops maintained their nine-point advantage after their nearest challengers had won 4-2 against Motherwell at Fir Park earlier in the day.
Postecoglou, speaking to Celtic TV, added: “There were always things happening other than the football and we just couldn’t really get into a rhythm or a flow and impose ourselves on the game.
“So, we had to work pretty hard and stay pretty disciplined through that and, again, credit to the lads. In the second-half I thought we maintained our composure a lot better and made the impact when we needed to.
“I don’t think it (sending off) makes it more difficult, but it just adds to that chaos. We lost Reo early and it just seemed like there was a lot going on out there that was not football-related, even the penalty we conceded.
“So, it’s fair to say that we just couldn’t into a real rhythm, but I thought in the second-half we did that.
“Even before then we created some good chances and David Marshall pulled off a couple of good saves, chances we would normally put away, but ,as I said, the boys got the job done.”
