VIRGIL van Dijk was the hero for Celtic on Boxing Day as his wonder goal earned the Hoops a victory in Perth.

It proved to be the difference against St Johnstone as the Scottish Champions stretched their unbeaten run to 17 games in the SPFL Premiership.

Neil Lennon was proud of his Dutch defender, claiming he has been a bright light for the Bhoys all season.

The Parkhead boss said: "I'm glad we're talking about it because it would have been a shame if we'd dropped points and weren't.

"It's one of the goals of the season and it just shows Virgil has that technical ability, and it's a marvellous individual goal.

"He's a player who has really lit up Scottish football this year."

Lennon also told Celtic TV: "I thought in the first half we were excellent and then St Johnstone came at us for about 10 or 15 minutes.

"We weathered the storm but we have never had it easy here, especially in my time as manager.

"I knew how difficult it was going to be and the pitch was starting to cut up.

"But I thought after an hour we had better control of the game again, we made changes and it brought a bit of freshness to us."