Jonny Bravo

Jonny Hayes hails the resilience of the Celts in the heat of the derby battle

- Tony Connelly

EVEN though he sat out the second half and watched the remainder of the game from the comparative serenity of the dugout, Jonny Hayes was lost for breath at the end of an astonishing 90 minutes.

Like nearly everyone else who witnessed the 2-1 win over Rangers, the Irishman was almost lost for words as well after taking in a derby filled with taking points.

The winger said: “What a result. Games like that get emotional and I’m disappointed that we didn’t kick on and get two or three.

“We let them back into the game but our resilience and winning mentality came into play again. “

The Hoops certainly could have added to Odsonne Edouard’s 27th-minute opener in a blistering first half in which they took the game to their opponents as the peppered the Ibrox side’s penalty area with attack after attack.

It was a strong start to proceedings and the Irishman said that was exactly what Neil Lennon had demanded of his players before the game.

Hayes said: “The message from the manager was to go out and start on the front foot. He wanted us to show a bit more enthusiasm and aggression from the start. I think that was missing a bit in the last game.