Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou praises side’s character after surviving Aberdeen fightback as Matt O’Riley voices delight at breaking scoring duck

Ange Postecoglou was delighted with the character displayed by his Celtic side as they edged a five-goal thriller against Aberdeen at Pittodrie last night.

The Hoops survived a spirited second half comeback from the Dons to seal a 3-2 victory as they extended their unbeaten league run to 20 games.

Jota tapped home the opener at the back post after some poor defending before Matt O’Riley’s deflected effort had the visitors firmly in command at the interval.

However, two goals in five second half minutes from Christian Ramirez and Lewis Ferguson drew the hosts level, but Celtic responded immediately as Jota rifled home a controversial winner.

Postecoglou felt his side lost control of the match but was proud of the way his players managed to regain their focus after conceding two quick-fire goals.

He told Celtic TV: “It was an exciting game. From our perspective, we played well in the first-half and should have been further ahead.

“There were opportunities there for us to score more but we expected a reaction from Aberdeen at half-time, they’re a hard side to beat, especially at their home ground.

“They’re a big physical team and were a threat at set-pieces, which is something we didn’t handle well and something we need to improve on.

“We lost our composure a bit in the second half but the reaction from the lads was good and it was pleasing to get a third goal.

“It’s great to win here as it’s a difficult place to come and in the context of our season it’s another important three points, but we’re a team still building a foundation and have got a long way to go.

“It was good for guys like Matt, Liel (Abada) and Diazen (Maeda) to experience that type of atmosphere away from home. It will stand them in good stead in terms of the battle they have to go through every week in the Premiership.

“We’re going to face different challenges moving forward. I’m disappointed with the way we played but I’ll never question my team’s character. They’ve shown that in abundance since the first day I came here.”

Midfielder O’Riley was thrilled to open his goal scoring account for Celtic on his fifth start after revealing his missed opportunity against Dundee United last month was playing on his mind.

He added: “Before the game I felt I could do with scoring tonight as this was my fifth game. I had one really good chance against Dundee United that I should’ve put away, so that was on the back of my mind.

“I’m definitely happy to get my first goal on the board. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of nice messages from family and friends.

“I think we’ve proved again tonight that if we do concede a goal at a rough time, we’re able to respond well and grind out a result.

“In that sense, we’re in a really good both physically and mentally but it’s just one game and we need to stay focused on our task.

“Every game is just as important as the next one. We’ve had a few very good wins recently but we’re just taking it one game at a time and we’ll keep doing that for the rest of the season.”