Oran Kearney has defended his decision to make wholesale changes to his St Mirren side that lost 2-0 Celtic .
The Saints boss was criticised by the likes of St Mirren vs Celtic: Oran Kearney's team selection criticised by ex-Northern Ireland captain Stephen Craigan for making six changes to the squad that beat Dundee 2-1 at the weekend.
But the former Coleraine manager says he sticks by his decision to change personnel as Timothy Weah and Ryan Christie condemned his side to a Celtic fan throws firework that goes off near St Mirren keeper Vaclav Hladky .
He said: "I absolutely do and as I say we knew the mileage that was going to be needed for tonight and yes we brought in a few fresh faces to do that, but I brought in my club captain Stephen McGinn and Anton Ferdinand who has played a few games as well.
Celtic fan throws firework that goes off near St Mirren keeper Vaclav Hladky
"I think the calibre of players we've brought in, I don''t think they've done us any harm whatsoever and their experience was a huge help. It's important we share the load, that's what the squad is there for."
Kearney wasn't too disheartened by the performance from the his players and says it could have been a different game if the Buddies capitalised on a few chances that came their way in the second half when it was still 1-0.
He added: "It was a tough night and probably to be expected, Celtic do dominate a lot of the ball.
"I think particularly in the first half we struggled to really create any chances.
"In other games you maybe get a couple of other chances, but in games like this it's important you take those. They're probably the ones you are hoping for so that you have a grandstand finish.
"I think it's even harder to score against Celtic and teams that dominate the ball because you spend so much time off the ball and moving so much that you when you do have the ball, you're that little bit more fatigued or tired.
"Confidence wise, we are happy where the camp is at the moment and just disappointing in those couple of big moments, that we didn't take the chances when they were there."
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