CELTIC boss Gordon Strachan acknowledged the problems his choice of substitutes have caused this season after Georgios Samaras came off the bench to score the winner against Motherwell at Fir Park.
After Hoops' striker Scott McDonald had taken around 60 seconds to level Chris Porter's 61st-minute opener, the former Coventry and Southampton boss threw on the Greek internationalist and Scott Brown for Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Shunsuke Naka
mura in a bid to snatch a winner.
Samaras – who arrived on loan from Manchester City in January – vindicated Strachan's decision when he dipped his head to meet Barry Robson's 79th minute corner.
Strachan has been booed on several occasions this season after making unpopular substitutions, most recently when he withdrew midfielder Barry Robson against Rangers in the 2-1 home win over the Ibrox men.
The Celtic boss also had a spat with McDonald after the Australia international was unhappy at being replaced in a 1-0 defeat by Motherwell last month.
Alluding to the fact that defender Gary Caldwell has also struggled to win over all the Celtic fans, Strachan quipped: "I'm brave every time I make a substitution.
"I can only get away with doing it to Gary Caldwell. But I'm lucky that I have some decent players to do make those substitutions.
"Scott Brown also came on and made the difference but as well as quality, you also need desire and we had that."
Strachan shrugged off Motherwell's fury at referee Steve Conroy's apparent mistake that led to the Hoops' late winner. With around 12 minutes remaining and the game tied at 1-1, Parkhead stopper Bobo Balde appeared to head a Robson free-kick past for a goal-kick, under pressure from Well striker Porter.
However, Conroy, who had frustrated the Fir Park dugout and supporters all afternoon, pointed to the corner flag.
From Robson's cross, Samaras, bundled the ball over the line from close range to give the visitors three crucial points in their quest to retain their title.
Porter said: "It was definitely a goal-kick but he gave a corner.
"I was shocked at his decision and it was hard to take."
Motherwell boss Mark McGhee added: "I'm absolutely adamant that it wasn't a corner.
"But we still had the opportunity to defend it even though the referee made a bad decision."
However, Strachan reacted curtly when told of Motherwell's ire, saying: "I am still furious about a goal and the offside decision that we didn't get at Inverness – so we are all furious."
The champions extended their lead over Rangers at the top of the table to seven points but the Ibrox men, who drew with Hibs yesterday, have three games in hand.
Strachan was glad to keep the pressure on his Glasgow rivals.
"It was a huge three points," the former Southampton and Coventry boss said.
"It is so important to get results every week.
"Everybody expects us to play beautiful football but it about getting results and that was common-sense football.
"I wasn't concerned at 1-0 down because I always feel we can come back."
McGhee claimed his side, which showed five changes from last week's draw against Dundee United, deserved at least a point for their efforts.
He said: "I'm disappointed that we didn't get anything out of it.
"I thought that we made a big contribution to the game but ultimately came out with nothing.
"We lost four against them the last time in similar circumstances.
"For McDonald's goal, Brian McLean is six foot three and he should be winning that ball so there is disappointment in that."
Motherwell manager McGhee made five changes from the side that drew 2-2 with Dundee United at Fir Park last week.
McGhee described the match against Aberdeen next week as the one that is crucial to his side's UEFA Cup aspirations.
The Dons put themselves back in the frame for a UEFA Cup spot with a 2-1 win over Dundee United at Pittodrie.
McGhee said: "Aberdeen is the important game for us. We will have players like Ross McCormack and Simon Lappin back for that."
The full article contains 696 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
