Strachan: Nerves were jangling

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Celtic had surrendered a two-goal lead at Inverness in December when Caley came back to win 3-2, and the Hoops boss felt the loss of the goal had the alarm bells ringing.

He said: "It was strange. I was thinking, 'How did it come to this after 70 minutes of terrific football, great variety and great crosses'?"

A strike by Scott McDonald at the very end of the first half, his 25th of the season, and a Georgios Samaras header on the hour mark, looked to have put the game beyond the punchless Highlanders.

But 10 minutes later Caley striker Marius Niculae took advantage of Scott Brown's misplaced pass to pull a goal back, ensuring a nervy last 20 minutes for the Clydesdale Bank Premier League champions - who remain four points behind SPL leader Rangers, who notched an impressive 4-0 win at Hearts.

"I think our players were shocked when the goal went in and they thought it was going to be one of those crazy results like the one we had up there," he said.

"So the players had difficulties with their minds at that time and I could understand that.

"But Inverness never had another chance. The balls were coming in the box but we defended them well."

Caley player-manager Craig Brewster, who claimed his side were "superb" even in defeat, admitted they had been undone by yet another superb delivery from a Shunsuke Nakamura free-kick, which gave McDonald an easy chance to score from close range seconds before the interval.

"When you have a player like Nakamura who can zip in crosses the way he does, he puts your defence on the back foot," said Brewster. "He is a specialist at that. McDonald gets across and nips in for a goal. We might have sneaked one at the end."