Ronny Deila hailed Scott Brown’s courage after the Celtic captain shrugged off injury to drive the Scottish champions to the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership with a 1-0 win at Motherwell.
Brown, also the Scotland captain, broke down in training on Thursday with a twisted ankle which left him as a doubt for the trip to Fir Park where Mark McGhee was beginning his second stint in charge.
However, Brown took up his usual central midfield role and helped dominate a game in which Nadir Ciftci’s 14th-minute strike proved enough to take Celtic two points clear of Aberdeen.
“I said to the players in the dressing room afterwards that Scott is a role model in hard work,” Deila, the Celtic manager, said. “I think he had the ball by himself for the last five minutes.
“His ankle was very swollen on Thursday but he is a leader by performance and he shows what attitude is.
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“There is a difference between pulled muscles and when you get a knock. Then, sometimes you have to get yourself together and go out and be ready for it. It is not sunshine every day - especially not here in Scotland - so you have go through it sometimes and he was a fantastic example.”
Hamilton battled back from a goal behind and a man disadvantage to nick a 1-1 draw at home to Dundee. Kevin Holt put the visitors ahead three minutes into the second half and that looked to be enough when Darian MacKinnon was dismissed just after the hour mark. But Dundee failed to put the game to bed and Dougie Imrie made them pay with an 87th-minute equaliser.
Kilmarnock sealed a 2-0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle to move up to ninth in the table. Greg Kiltie broke the deadlock on the cusp of half-time and Josh Magennis, the Northern Ireland player, made it safe after 66 minutes.
Partick Thistle made it two wins in a row with a 2-1 victory over St Johnstone. Gary Miller and Steven Lawless scored to give the visitors a first-half cushion and that was enough, despite Steven MacLean’s effort three minutes after the restart. Abdul Osman was sent off for two yellow cards but Partick held on.