Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers stressed they would be ready for the Champions League qualifiers after leaving it late to secure victory in their opening game of the domestic season.
The champions needed a deflected strike from substitute Luke McCowan to edge past St Mirren with a 1-0 win as they started their Scottish Premiership title defence at Parkhead.
Celtic earlier hit the frame of the goal through Benjamin Nygren, Reo Hatate and Republic of Ireland international Adam Idah, and had a Callum McGregor strike disallowed for handball following a VAR intervention.
But a strike force led by Idah inside Daizen Maeda and Yang Hyun-jun – with James Forrest and Johnny Kenny coming off the bench – looked in need of the reinforcements which Rodgers has been calling for.
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The Celtic manager was eager to praise his side’s display and not labour that point, but fans will be keen to see new signings come in soon after Monday’s Champions League play-off draw.
The likes of Sturm Graz and Basel await Celtic as they discover their fate for the high-risk, high-reward games, which will take place in the final two weeks of this month.
Rodgers said: “We’ll be ready for the games. Whenever they come, we’ll be ready. The players are working very hard.
“They are always tense games. But we’re in a good place and we’ll take that game on when it comes.
“We’ve had a really, really good preseason. The players are shaping up very well and are working very hard. There’s real spirit and solidarity here in the team. So we look forward to that.
“We know whoever we get, it’s going to be tough, but it will also be tough for them.”
Asked whether their long wait for a goal against St Mirren underlined the need for more attacking options, Rodgers said: “We created a lot. We got into a lot of really good areas and you have to give credit to the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper made some great saves.
“I think we were creative in the game, dominated the game.
“At times we moved the ball really well. At other times we could have attacked a wee bit more when we got into certain positions and been a bit more aggressive in the one-v-one moments.
“But overall, to play against that team, against that system, that’s how you’ve got to work it and then you need a bit of quality to finish it.
“Sometimes you need a wee bit of good fortune as well. We didn’t quite have that, some of them hit the post and the bar.”
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson saw plenty to encourage him.
“It was disappointing because we lost to a deflection,” he said.
“Defensively, I thought we were superb, very, very well organised. People use that as a slight against St Mirren sometimes, but that is one of the basics of management, get your team organised.
“We said we would have five or six opportunities to break and we did. Some we picked the right option, some we didn’t.
“We didn’t sit back the whole game, we pressed. I think we caused Celtic problems at times.
“But they have a heck of a lot of quality. If you look at the substitutes they are bringing on in comparison to ours, then it makes it a tough task.”
