The Celtic boss had come in for increasing criticism from a section of the Parkhead club's supporters and from the Scottish media as his side struggled in recent weeks.

After being knocked out of the Scottish Cup at home to Aberdeen, Strachan's side lost away to Rangers and at home to Motherwell to all but end their chances of a third straight Scottish Premier League title.

This led to calls from some Celtic fans for Strachan to leave the club.

And, ahead of a crunch Old Firm match at home to Rangers on Wednesday which could breathe new life into Celtic's title hopes, Strachan hit back at his critics.

He said: "After Sunday's game someone told me it was a great performance. It was a fully committed performance but it just shows you what goals can do.

"I have to stay above the emotion. Some people might not like that but I've told the players they are doing a lot of things right.

"When we lost to Motherwell the previous week we had far more chances, played better football and their goalkeeper made more saves but we didn't score.

"That's football though and the most important statistic is scoring goals. We can now breathe a little easier and not spend the next few days scratching our heads and wondering what's going wrong.

"That's what we've been doing after the last five games where we have been wondering what more we can do to win a game of football."

Strachan is now hoping his side's emphatic victory against Motherwell can help them beat Rangers on Wednesday to keep their title hopes alive.

He said: "I still hope we have a chance to win the title. It would be nice to continue our league challenge and make it more interesting."