Greg Taylor hails 'important' win over Motherwell but says Celtic 'can perform better'

Greg Taylor has admitted Celtic never played at their best in their “scrappy” win over Motherwell on Saturday but insists it was an important win for the league leaders.

The Scotland international has established himself as Ange Postecoglou’s first choice left-back despite the arrival of Argentine Alex Bernabei in the summer.

And the 24-year-old was again at the heart of the battle as goals from Kyogo Furuhashi and Reo Hatate, either side of a Josip Juranovic own goal, sealed a 2-1 victory that put the champions back to the top of the Premiership.

Captain Callum McGregor was sent off late in the game as Motherwell chased an equaliser but Taylor was pleased with the win.

Speaking to Celtic TV he said: “It was good in spells but we got a wee bit scrappy at points, probably their goal sums up the point I’m talking about.

“The boys hung in well and it’s an important three points.

“We have an important spell in a short period of time. Now it’s just about rest and recovery and that’s what we’ll we do and thankfully we got the three points but we know we can be a lot better than that today.”

Rangers had earlier beat Hearts at Tynecastle in the day’s early kick off to go a point ahead of their city rivals and Steven Hammell’s men never made it easy for Celtic who had to fight to reclaim their position at the top.

It took a stunner from Hatate just after the hour mark to seal the win and Taylor believes the goal came at the perfect time.

He said: “It came at a good time at 1-1 because we were trying to probe and get the next goal and we managed to do it with a great strike and it was important.

“I think we had chances, certainly in the first-half, but when you’re only 1-0 up and you don’t manage to get the second then this can happen.

“It was a good goal from Reo to put us into the lead and thankfully we managed to hold out from there.”