NEIL Lennon hailed Celtic’s 2-1 win away to Aberdeen as a massive result and credited his players for grinding out the result in a hard fought contest.

The champions overcame a difficult test at Pittodrie to take all three points and extend their winning run to nine in nine in the second half of the season.

Derek McInnes’ Dons side made Celtic work for the win after cancelling out Callum McGregor’s opener midway through the first half, but Kristoffer Ajer emerged with the winner late in the game to secure all three points for the champions.

Neil Lennon said the result was huge for Celtic and praised his players for overcoming their fierce opposition in difficult conditions.

“I’m thrilled,” said the manager. “It’s a massive win in treacherously difficult conditions to play football. All credit goes to the players. They dug out a massive result for us. You can’t always play quick, slick football and they had to grind it out today.

“It’s a good sign to get the result. It shows the character, resilience and that they’re a team. There’s good solidarity within them and they keep going. The fitness levels are great as well but we’re not getting ahead of ourselves, there’s still a lot of football to be played. In the context of the run that we’re on it’s a big win.”

With the scores level, and Aberdeen playing well, Neil Lennon made some tactical changes in the second half which proved crucial in determining the outcome of the game.

“It worked quite well for us and we started creating good opportunities,” he said. “Jonny had a great chance and then we scored and then Odsonne had a great chance. The change helped the players, there’s no question of that.

“Jamesy opened the pitch right up and the pass was perfectly weighted. Kris showed a lot of composure to finish it off. It was a great goal and an important goal.

“We didn’t want to drop points but it was looking like it, and a point at Pittodrie sometimes can be a decent result. In these conditions the game could have gone either way but we came up with a really important piece of football.

“A point away from home isn’t the worst result in the world but we’re always trying to think of getting a goal. The subs we brought on were forward thinking players and the ones who could create something.”

The manager celebrated in front of the fans after the final whistle and thanked them afterwards during his post-match press conference.

“I appreciate the fans making a long trek in horrible conditions,” he said. “I appreciate everything they bring us and I thought they were magnificent today. Even at 1-1 when the game could have gone either way they were still making a lot of noise."

Neil Lennon praises Celts for grinding out win against Aberdeen