RONNY DEILA today revealed Charlie Mulgrew suffered another knee injury in last night's 1-0 win over Partick Thistle.

The midfielder feared he would require surgery when he was forced out of action with a meniscus problem in September.

Treatment in London averted him going under the knife,

Mulgrew was forced to sit out Sunday's Scottish Cup win over Hearts after damaging a rib in the Europa League tie against Salzburg seven days ago.

His enforced half-time switch was the one disappointment on a night when the Hoops stretched their lead at the top of the table to three points.

Deila said: "Charlie was feeling something in his knee. I don't know how serious it was, but he had to come off. We will have to wait and see what it is."

Deila can see signs his squad is feeling the strain of playing so many games, but has yet to decide if he will use next week's dead-rubber Europa League tie in Zagreb as an opportunity to rest some of his big hitters.

"It could be we will do that," said the manager. "But we still want to go there and fight for another victory.

"First, though, we are focusing on getting another three points at Motherwell this weekend. We're on a good run now and we just need to keep on winning."

Deila hopes last night was a lesson learned as well as three points earned.

Virgil van Dijk grabbed the Man-of-the Match award after scoring the only goal.

But Deila is in no doubt Craig Gordon was every bit as much a hero after making a wonder save from Kris Doolan in the dying minutes to deny Thistle a point.

As they celebrate their sixth straight league win, Deila wants his players to reflect on how they struggled to hammer home their advantage.

"Thistle didn't have too many chances, but our two central defenders and the keeper were very good for us.

"In the end, we needed a tremendous save from Craig, which was very important for us.

"It is always like that when you don't take your chances. The opposition will always get one.

"It's a reminder to our players that, when we get one goal, we must keep going to try and get two.

"They did keep on creating chances. Immediately after Virgil scored, we had a big chance with Kris Commons, but we didn't score. When you are not effective enough, then you can struggle."

John Guidetti has been the man to get the goals in the past couple of months, with 11 in his 12 appearances before last night.

But Deila does not believe his side has become too reliant on the loan striker.

He said: "John has scored a lot of goals for us. But I think Stefan Scepovic was good when he came on as a sub. He created chances.

"Kris Commons was also positive. That's what we need, more players to open up defences."

Aleksandar Tonev was one man Deila reckons did that, and he is hoping the Bulgarian wins his appeal today to ensure he is not sidelined for the next six games.

The manager said: "Aleks made a lot of penetrating runs, created chances, and could have scored goals.

"I was satisfied with the first 60 minutes he was on. But he got tired in the end so we had to bring him off."