Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers had an interesting theory for Yang Hyun-jun’s upturn in form and praised the winger’s work-rate after his match-winning cameo against St Mirren.
The South Korean winger headed two goals and produced a brilliant assist for Daizen Maeda in the final quarter as Celtic won 5-2 in Paisley.
Saints had given as good as they got before Yang came off the bench along with Luke McCowan and Jota and changed the game.
The 22-year-old only scored once in his first 48 Celtic appearances but has now netted five times in nine matches.
“It has just been time with Yang,” Rodgers said.
“His girlfriend is here at the moment. I said to the guys, let’s see if we can keep her here and get that visa sorted. Everyone knows he’s in a really good mood and has been for a while.
“He scored his two goals and the one that was disallowed, but his pass for Daizen’s goal, to see it and then to execute it, wow, what a pass.”
Yang soaked up the post-match celebrations with the fans after Celtic went 16 points clear in the William Hill Premiership.
“I think he would have stayed there all night, to be fair to him,” Rodgers said.
“But it’s so good for him. He’s such a great kid. He works so hard every single day. He doesn’t moan, he doesn’t groan. He’s a tough boy, he’s physical.
“It hasn’t always come off for him because he’s adapting to the intensity and the pressure. But now you’re starting to see a young guy evolve as a football player and as a person, and I’m so, so happy for him.”
Jeffrey Schlupp and Arne Engels, from the spot, had each given Celtic the lead but St Mirren levelled twice through Declan John and Killian Phillips and had a number of other good chances.
Rodgers said: “This is one of my favourite results of the season. Why? Because we are coming to a team you can see are difficult to play against, the surface is very difficult and it’s on the back of a third game of the week.
“We needed the freshness, the energy of the players coming into the game. They made the football smile for us.”
St Mirren were right in the game until Maeda made it 4-2 in the 88th minute and had what looked a clear penalty claim rejected when Alistair Johnston took out Roland Idowu 60 seconds earlier.
Manager Stephen Robinson said: “It’s not a good claim, it’s a penalty. I don’t blame the ref (Matthew MacDermid) as it happens quickly.
“The ball has gone in a completely different direction from where Alistair has tried to make his challenge. He’d got a little nick on the ball and then followed through and the ball’s gone in a completely different direction from the tackle.
“There are a lot of key moments in the game. We had seven incredibly good chances that we didn’t take. Key moments in defending as well.
“There are key moments in the game of course and you need luck against top teams. But it wasn’t luck, it was just we didn’t get the decision we should have got.
“It’s 3-2 and everything to play for. I thought we were on top of the game at that stage as well.”
