Celtic back on track, says manager Ronny Deila

Celtic manager Ronny Deila believes his side are back on track after they defeated Ross County 2-0 to move three points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Saturday.

The Hoops suffered a slump at the beginning of the month as their dreams of a domestic treble were ended by a 3-1 League Cup semi-final defeat to Ross County.

That loss was followed three days later by a 2-1 defeat to nearest challengers Aberdeen on league duty to blow the title race wide open.

However, after back-to-back wins against minnows East Kilbride Thistle in the Scottish Cup and County, the Celtic manager feels his side are slowly regaining the form which saw them score 19 times in a five-game spell in January.

“It’s a good start and I’m very happy to get the three points,” said Deila, whose side triumphed thanks to goals from Leigh Griffiths and Dedryck Boyata.

“Ross County are a good team and they’ve shown lately that they can play good football.

“It was 2-0 today but it could have been more and I felt we controlled the game quite well.

“We got the three points and if we can keep on doing that then we are back on track but it is nothing by itself.

“But we have a strong squad and when this team plays at its best then they are very, very good and that’s why it was very important to get a victory and some confidence and kick on from here.”

Aberdeen have a chance to go top of the table before Celtic play again next Saturday if they can pick up wins away to Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Monday and against Partick Thistle at Firhill on Friday.

But Deila claimed Celtic’s results were his only concern and said it was too early to talk about a title race.

“Everyone talks about Aberdeen all the time but here at Celtic we don’t think about the others,” the Norwegian manager said.

“It’s all about us winning games. Whatever they do we have to win and it’s not good enough losing games.

“Every week we try to put on a performance and get three points.

“We can start talking in April whether it’s a title race or not. There’s too many games left and we just need to try and improve our performances and win games.”

Three of Celtic’s next four games are at home, including next Saturday’s clash with Inverness.