Celtic boss Gordon Strachan claims Artur Boruc could have sat beside him in the dugout during his side's 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at Parkhead.The Hoops moved to within one point of Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers with a deserved victory over the dogged Rugby Park side although it took a Martyn Corrigan own goal after the break to give them all three points.

Killie keeper Alan Combe kept the champions at bay with a string of impressive saves until the 63rd minute when the former Motherwell player deflected a Scott Brown drive in to the net.

Despite the scoreline, Strachan insisted the victory was never in doubt.

He said: "I thought we played really well and to make that number of chances was more than I could expect - and Artur could have been sitting with me.

"Kilmarnock usually have one or two chances because they have some good players but they were nullified and it was possibly the most chances we have had this season.

"We have played many times here and gone two or three up and not been as good as that. I really liked what I saw."

Celtic had to overcome the loss of Jan Vennegor of Hesselink and Andreas Hinkel to injury in the first half.

The Dutchman was replaced by Chris Killen after sustaining a nasty cut on the forehead after clashing heads with Killie defender Simon Ford and he was accompanied off the park by the German international, with Derek Riordan coming on.

Strachan explained: "Andreas picked up a thigh strain.

"He had a virus on Friday and couldn't train but he wanted to play and I think he was a bit tired. "We have to hope that it is not a bad one.

"Jan's was a bad one and the doctor said that no way could he go back on when he was losing such an amount of blood.

"It is a cut on his forehead which is not long but it is deep and he burst a blood vessel behind it."

Celtic defender Gary Caldwell denied his side missed the services of Aiden McGeady who was serving a one-match ban.

He said: "I don't think so. I thought we were excellent and the boys who came in did well.

"Aiden has been the best player so far throughout the whole league but this shows that we have a bit of depth to the squad and it was as good a performance as we've had for a while."

Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies had no complaints about his side's defeat but called for the new Scotland manager, whoever he will be, to consider picking the uncapped Combe.

Jefferies, who refused to reveal his own thinking behind Combe's international omission over the years, said: "They had some really good chances but Alan Combe was brilliant and I'll never know how he is not in the Scotland set-up.

"He has been consistently good for a long time and he was outstanding today. I do know why it is but I will keep it to myself. But I know it's not about ability.

"Overall, I was happy with the players' application, we just didn't ask enough questions.

"I was disappointed that we lost the game in the manner that we did but you can't blame Martyn, he thought there was a Celtic player behind him."

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