CHRISTOPHER Jullien heaped praise on his ice-cool countryman Odsonne Edouard after his fellow Frenchman put a string of first-half missed chances behind him to score the goal which restored Celtic’s five-point lead at the summit of the Premiership table.

While the 26-year-old turned in his fourth of the season from a seventh-minute corner to give the Parkhead side a flying start, Edouard appeared unnecessarily hesitant with a number of first half openings and the hosts paid the penalty when Sam Cosgrove nodded an equaliser out of the blue.

Edouard finally came up trumps, though, with a quality left foot finish after an equally precise pass from Ryan Christie – with the dismissal of Cosgrove allowing Neil Lennon to remove him from the action early to wrap him in cotton wool for the challenges of St Mirren and Rangers which await before the winter break. Jullien revealed that he had reassured his countryman that his goal would come. “I said to him at half-time ‘don’t worry man, you’re going to score’,” said Jullien. “We know what a threat he is and if he keeps having chances it is going to come.

“He is calm and he is going to score a goal. I told him at the end he should probably have had five or six. But he knows his strengths and we really trust in him. He is one of the best strikers I have played with in the final ten metres. To finish like that after all the chances he missed, to keep that strength of mind, shows how good he is for us.”