JIM GOODWIN hailed his makeshift St Mirren heroes after defying the odds to claim a point against Celtic.

The Buddies boss was forced to name a number of inexperienced youngsters in his line-up for the visit of Ange Postecoglou’s side but claimed a precious point in Paisley.

And he saluted his players, some of whom met for the first-time 90 minutes before the match, for their togetherness when it seemed the “whole world was against us”.

“It was an incredible performance from the team”, raved Goodwin.

“Every single one of them that went across the park gave everything for the jersey and came out fighting when it felt as if the whole world was against us.

“The kids deserve a special mention, there’s no doubt about it.

“We introduced half-a-dozen young lads to the group an hour and a half before kick-off. Some of them hadn’t even met any of the senior players before so that was the kind of situation that we found ourselves in.

“You’re right to mention the senior players, I think they deserve real credit. Tonight was about leadership and characters and togetherness and I thought we saw that in abundance.”

Goodwin handed Kieran Offord, 17, a debut and brought in Dylan Reid, 16, and Jay Henderson 19, as a large chunk of his side missed out through positive Covid cases.

And he admitted his frustrations at being forced to play the match despite the Covid outbreak insisting league chiefs ended up bending the loan rules to allow the Buddies to field a side.

But he was relieved to discover the winter break has been brought forward to follow the Boxing Day fixtures.

He explained: “I’m just fed up with seeing the English Premier League managed with real common sense and the safety of players is paramount down there. Up here we went to extreme measures to try and get this game on.

“As I said, bending the loan rules to bring six kids back who have been playing in the Lowland League.

“But I’m delighted that the winter break has been brought forward. It’s one sensible decision that has been made this week and I’m pleased the clubs have all come together on that one.”