Inverness 1-3 Celtic: Deila praises McGregor and Allan

Callum McGregor netted his third goal of the season at the Caledonian Stadium

Celtic manager Ronny Deila praised the impact of midfielders Callum McGregor and Scott Allan in the 3-1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

McGregor scored the opener and substitute Scott Allan had a hand in Leigh Griffiths' goal, which put the visitors 2-1 up.

A scrappy own goal by Danny Devine completed the Premiership leaders' win.

"Those two have been unbelievable," said Deila of Scots McGregor and Allan's endeavours to get in the team.

"It's always nice to see when people are coming back from being out of the team, or having a bad time.

"Scott Allan has worked really hard all the time, been very patient and has shown in training that he's more and more ready. When he gets his chance, he has really showed that he has something to do on this level. Very pleased with him.

Carlton Cole was involved in Celtic's third goal on his debut for the club

"Callum has also been working really hard and finds himself back into it again. That makes the whole team stronger.

"It's so important when you have bad times that you are humble, go into yourself, look what you can do better to get better and really want to do the hard work."

The result got Celtic back to winning ways following a 2-1 defeat by Ajax, which ended the Scottish champions' hopes of reaching the Europa League last 32, and a 0-0 league draw with Kilmarnock last weekend.

And another bonus for Deila was the debut as a substitute for former West Ham and England forward Carlton Cole, whose presence in the box led to Celtic's third goal.

"I'm very, very happy with three points," Deila said. "It's always very difficult when you have played two-and-a-half days ago.

"There's a lot of travelling involved and you play a good team as well - Inverness is always working you, they try to play and they have a lot of energy. Performance was good.

Miles Storey's goal temporarily brought Inverness level

"Carlton has not played for half a year, been injured for a while and he needs time to get really going but he needs playing time as well. There's a lot more to see from Carlton."

Inverness manager John Hughes described Miles Storey's performance as "exceptional", with the on-loan Swindon Town forward scoring Caley Thistle's leveller.

But he added: "He's still got a lot to do. We're live on the television and he's up for it - he needs to come with that mindset every week.

"Let the boys down in Swindon [know] this is what you're missing. I understand that but every week you need to go dig it out, dig it out and then he needs to start scoring doubles and hat-tricks. It's one at a time. All the good players keep going back for more.

"He was exceptional, he was a handful. His two centre-halves knew they were up against good pace and he took his goal well, really pleased for him.

"It's hard to be despondent and frustrated because I felt the boys gave me everything that they've got. It just wasn't to be. You just need to take it on the chin and move on."