Martin O’Neill was pleased that his side took all three points, recording a clean sheet as they beat St Mirren 1-0, courtesy of a goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

But the Celtic manager admitted that his side had not produced a good performance overall, and that he was concerned at the energy levels of the team the longer the game went on.

Speaking to Celtic TV after the game, he said: “We seemed for some reason or other, devoid of real energy which we had last week, and I know we got a little bit nervous too.

“But in the second half we surrendered possession so easily, we didn’t create and allowed St Mirren 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 match and that’s the most important thing at this minute.

"We think we can rectify a couple of things during the week for the semi-final next Sunday. We hope to try and do that, but it was the energy levels that gave me a bit of a concern.

“It is a nervy time but I felt that once we got the first goal, I thought, go on and let’s cement this, but it was a similar situation in terms of Dundee last week, not being able to do that and 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.

“But the most important thing is that we won and we can rectify a few things during the course of the week.”

Manager: It was good to win but we need to play much better