Celtic midfielder Scott Brown shrugged off the controversy surrounding Shunsuke Nakamura's late winner against St Mirren at Love Street.Referee Eddie Smith's decision to award a free-kick for Gary Mason's challenge on the Japan international 25 yards out with four minutes to go incensed the Love Street management, players and fans who foresaw what would happen.

Nakamura stepped up and curled a left-footed shot past Mark Howard to give Celtic the victory which keeps them four points behind leaders Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

But former Hibernian player Brown said: "Naka is unbelievable. You see him practising free-kicks in training and I don't think he misses the target. It just shows his quality.

"I think it was a free-kick. I was two yards behind Naka when it happened. The guy was going to tackle and Naka just touched the ball past him and he came in a bit late.

"But whether it was a free-kick or not, he scored and we got the three points and that's all that matters. We went just to win the game and we did that at the end.

"Fair play to St Mirren, they kept us with us in terms of fitness. We are one of the fittest teams in the league and they matched us pretty much all the way.

"But we won and that's all that matters and hopefully the three points are valuable at the end of the season."

It was a Celtic victory that had looked unlikely for most of the game.

Parkhead goalkeeper Artur Boruc made two great saves from David van Zanten and Billy Mehmet to keep the game goalless until Nakamura scored the late winner.

St Mirren boss Gus MacPherson, who claimed "there was no point" asking referee Smith to explain his decision, praised the Poland international for his two crucial interventions.

He said: "We knew we had to defend and stop the quality players that Celtic have and we did that. Their attacking threat was limited with the way we stopped their supply.

"I thought we were going to win the game, without a doubt. But Artur Boruc was outstanding. That's why he is rated in the £10million bracket. He had two or three world class saves and that is what we were up against.

"We had almost the whole team playing at their best and their discipline was remarkable.

"Sometimes you need a bit of luck and that luck wasn't with us."

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