Speaking to Celtic TV after the match, he said: "It was a difficult one, we knew they were going to be physical and they stuck to their game plan.

"They had one in the back of the net which was thankfully offside and it was a bit of a wake-up for us as well.

"We came out with some good energy and we knew every set piece and long throw was going to be a battle.

'We dug in and it was nice to put four in and it's another three points and we focus on the next one.'

The goals were all packed with quality, from Abada's volley to Kyogo's dink and Turnbull's rocket.

Johnston is now fully aware of the depth in the squad and he was delighted to watch the goals fly in from his right-back position, and he had positive words to say for his defensive partners.

"We've got quality throughout this entire team and you see David Turnbull, what a strike that was," he said.

"We have quality littered through this entire roster and if you give guys half-chances here then it will end up in the back of the net.

'It was great the guys were getting on the end of things and Kyogo was getting his rewards for his runs into the box and the quality was there on the crosses as well.'

"It's something we've been working on, we knew this team was the only one we've lost to this year and it was an extra motivation so it was good to get the three points on a chilly night and have our fans excited and bouncing in the stadium.

"We had an XI that hadn't played much together but I thought Yuki Kobayashi did brilliantly in his first match with everything getting pumped into the box and Josip Juranovic did as well playing at left-back."

Alistair Johnston: We had to dig in to earn all three points