Martin O’Neill praised the impact of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after the former England international struck late on to earn Celtic a vital 2-1 William Hill Premiership win at home to Livingston.
The former Arsenal and Liverpool was handed his debut off the bench in the second half after signing a short-term deal until the summer.
And he made a strong impression as he curled in a shot in second-half stoppage-time to earn Celtic three points after Marcelo Saracchi’s first-half goal had been cancelled out by a Livingston penalty by Robbie Muirhead.
O’Neil admitted he had not expected Oxlade-Chamberlain’s impact to be so dramatic but felt his composure and experience could be vital in the title run-in.
The Celtic manager said: “He’s been a class player, there’s no question about it.
“He’s played for big teams and performed brilliantly so I’m just really delighted to have him and getting him onto the field as well too.
“He turns the game for us which is brilliant. It was a great strike and I was right behind it when I saw it. The minute it left his foot, I thought, ‘this is in’.
“I think that he can give us something, no question about that. He’s a really decent player and he gets up to speed with things. He’s only done it a couple of days and I couldn’t be more pleased with him.
“He’s made a big impact, believe it or not, even in the training sessions with the rest of the players, which is always a good sign.
“I’m just delighted he’s in and I think that, when he’s properly fit, he’ll be great for us.”
Livingston manager Marvin Bartley praised the efforts of his players despite the concession of that late strike as his side remain bottom.
He said: “First and foremost I have to give my players a lot of credit for how they played.
“We had to come up with a gameplan which needed a lot of energy to do so and I thought they did that.
“Ultimately we were beaten at the end by a really good goal by a player who has performed at the top level.
“I’ve been here too many times to think you’ve got them until the final whistle. You see the amount of late goals Celtic score, you are never out of the woods completely.
“The belief will never go away as long as we can stay up. If they match that effort, we will be fine. We need to get to the split and I’d put my team up against any other team.”
