MARTIN O'NEILL hailed the atmosphere inside Celtic Park during Saturday's 1-0 win over St Mirren as the Green Brigade returned to the stadium for the first time since October.
Tensions between the ultras group and the Celtic hierarchy haves become an unwelcome distraction during what has been a difficult season on the pitch for the club.
However, the supporters were in full voice upon their return, even if the performance on the pitch was somewhat lacklustre as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal sealed the points in a nervy win.
O'Neill will be hoping for an improved performance when they meet the Buddies again in a week's time in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Celtic toil
Speaking to reporters after the game, O'Neill described the mood inside the stadium as 'a proper Celtic Park atmosphere'.
"I thought the crowd were great to us today because they could easily have got irritated with some of the things that we did," he added.
Indeed, it was frustrating viewing at times as Celtic made hard work of the challenge from the visitors.
Oxlade-Chamberlain had the ball in the net after seven minutes when Shamal George parried Callum McGregor's thumping drive from 25 yards only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
However, the former Liverpool man got his goal shortly after, pouncing on the loose ball after Alexandros Gogić blocked McGregor's long-range effort before firing low across George.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain celebrates his goal with Hyunjun Yang (Image: Craig Williamson / SNS Group via Getty Images)However, Celtic failed to add to their lead, Tomáš Čvančara spurning two good chances before the break.
His replacement on the hour, Kelechi Iheanacho, passed up the best chance of the second half to seal the points and ease Celtic's nerves.
The Nigerian striker sent an effort wide 15 minutes from time with the goal at his mercy after failing to make a decent connection with Daizen Maeda's cross from the byline.
The Hoops toiled throughout the second half as St Mirren looked to get something from the game to aid their fight against relegation.
The Buddies have been a thorn in the side of Celtic this season, with the Hoops requiring late goals to seal victory in the two previous Premiership meetings.
They also convincingly beat Celtic 3-1 in the League Cup final in December.
While the Hoops ultimately managed to stifle the threat from the visitors, they missed a chance to improve their goal difference in the final game before the split in what is proving a tight title race.
'Concern'
O'Neill admitted after the game that the performance was 'not very good' and hoped to tweak things before next Sunday's Hampden showdown.
"We seemed for some reason or other devoid of real energy, which we had last week in the game [against Dundee]," he told Celtic TV.
"I know we got a little bit nervous too but in the second half we surrendered possession so easily.
"I felt we didn't create and allowed the opposition to come into the game and in the last 15 minutes they were getting stronger as we seemed to be getting weaker.
"We have to improve a great deal but we won the game, we won the match and that's the most important thing at this minute.
"We think that we can rectify a couple of things during the week before the semi-final next Sunday, we hope to try and do that but it was the energy levels that gave me a bit of concern."
He added: "Once we got the first goal I thought, 'Come on, go on and cement this' but it was a similar situation in terms of Dundee last week, not being able to do that.
"Then you do become nervous and it was like that.
"We were spurred on by a really great crowd cheering us right to the end but we've got to give them more to cheer about."
Despite the performance, the win keeps Celtic in the title race.
They are three points behind Hearts, who scored two late goals to win 3-1 against Motherwell at Tynecastle yesterday.
Meanwhile, third-placed Rangers can leapfrog the Hoops if they win their game in hand at Falkirk this afternoon.
Celtic will be hoping they can give the fans both a result and performance to cheer about at Hampden next Sunday before the post-split matches commence the following week.
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