WILFRIED NANCY praised his side's competitive spirit as Celtic survived an early scare at Livingston to win 4-2 and secure a second consecutive win for the manager.
Celtic twice came from behind in a frantic opening 10 minutes before adding two further goals to comfortably lead at the break.
Both sides had chances to add to the scoreline in the second half but it finished 4-2 to the visitors.
The result, coupled with Hearts' dramatic 3-2 derby defeat at Hibs, saw second-place Celtic close the gap at the top to just three points, having played a game less than the Jambos.
Speaking after the game, Nancy said he was happy with how his players responded after twice failing behind within eight minutes.
"I'm happy with the reaction," he told Celtic TV.
"We came back twice from behind and like I said before, this is something that I like to see because the competitive spirit was really good regarding that and after that we scored goals.
"We could have scored more goals but I liked the first half regarding that, even though the two goals we conceded I think that we can do better on and we've got to do better."
He added: "We can avoid these goals but what I like is the reaction that we had and we have to keep it."
Frantic start
Celtic have now won two games in a row under Nancy after he began his reign with four defeats, so there are signs of improvement.
However, the Hoops are yet to keep a clean sheet under the Frenchman and while the attack is beginning to click, the defence still appear to be getting to grips with the manager's preferred back three.
Cristian Montano's superb third-minute opener came after he capitalised on a wayward cross-field pass from Kieran Tierney.
Celtic levelled three minutes later after Benjamin Nygren turned in Daizen Maeda's header at the back post, however, they were pegged back once again two minutes later.
Once again it was Montano, who this time was left unmarked in the box to half-volley Scott Pittman's ball beyond stand-in keeper Viljami Sinisalo.
Hun-Jun Yang made it 2-2 on 10 minutes, firing home after a goalmouth scramble before top scorer Nygren put Celtic ahead for the first time in the game with a sumptuous, lofted shot from just inside the area that went in off the post.
Arne Engels then put daylight between the sides as he drilled home from the spot after Daniel Finlayson's unfortunate handball to make it 4-2.
While there were no further goals, Montano drew a fine save from Sinisalo midway through the second half as he chased his hat-trick.
Improvement
Despite the back-to-back wins, the first needed two late goals against Aberdeen at home last Sunday while the two early goals conceded against bottom-of-the-table Livi on Saturday again highlighted Celtic's defensive frailties.
The Hoops now face two much sterner tests in the week ahead, with a trip to fourth-place Motherwell on Tuesday followed by Rangers' visit to Celtic Park next Saturday.
Despite that, Nancy was optimistic that his squad are improving under his watch.
"It's been only two weeks that I'm here and I see already a really good improvement and a desire to do something that we've working on," he told Celtic TV.
"For me, I'm pleased but again the competitive spirit for me was really good, so we have to keep that."
Similarly, top-scorer Nygren, who has eight league goals and 10 in all competitions this season, praised the determination of the squad to overcome the early set-backs in West Lothian.
"It wasn't the start we wanted, we conceded early but we came back twice," he told Celtic TV.
"We've done that many times this season so it shows the strong mentality in the group."
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