BRENDAN RODGERS hailed "one of my favourite results of the season" as Celtic powered to a 5-2 win over St Mirren. The result puts the champions within three wins of the title following Rangers’ loss to Motherwell. Celtic are now 16 points clear at the top but Celtic needed three late goals to overcome a hard-working Saints side - as Rodgers acknowledged. He paid tribute to subs Hyun-Jun Yang and Luke McCowan - who he said made the ball "smile" for his side. He said: "That was one of my favourite results of the season. "Because we’re coming to a team you can see are difficult to play against, where the surface is very difficult and it’s the third game of the week. "To come here and get five goals, I was so pleased. "We were so good in our attacking play. And we also needed the freshness, the energy of the players who came into the game. "They made the football smile for us. "We always knew this was going to be a tough place to come. "I'm just so happy for the players that they've come through what’s been a really busy period. "But because we've played so many games, the players are physically and mentally pushing themselves to the limit. "They’ll have a couple of days off in midweek and they totally deserve it because they've been absolutely outstanding. "Professionalism, mentality, dealing with pressure, quality, resilience, grit - everything you want. That's what's in this group. "And none more so than to come here and score five goals. "So they deserve a wee breather then we'll get back in and prepare for the quarter-final." Auston Trusty needed five stitches in a head knock and Rodgers admitted his defenders need some "freshness" after their schedule. He said: "One goal against us was a wonderful free-kick by Declan John, then obviously at the second one they get a wee bit of good fortune. "If I’m being super-critical we need to get a bit of freshness back in our defending. "But now we can recover better, we can do some work on that on the training field. "Then going forward with one game a week, apart from probably the last week, we'll be right there. "I've always wanted to sprint over the line in any of the competitions that we've been in. "So we sit in a great position, 16 points clear with the goal difference that’s you could say was an extra point. "The players are so deserving of it but we still have a lot of work to do. "We want to get into the semi-final, and we’ve a tough game next week. "But we'll be ready for that. "Then we want to finish the job in the league as quickly as we can." Celtic knew of Rangers’ latest defeat before their game in Paisley started. But Rodgers said: "I didn't mention it because when you start to concentrate on other teams, then that's your measure. "My measure here at Celtic is beyond that. "I want us to be the best that we can be. "What I said to the players is that there's a price to pay when you're a Celtic player. "There's great moments, but the price to pay is that this will be a St Mirren team who will come and give everything against you. "So you've got to stand up to it. And the players did that so well. "Callum came off because he felt a little bit of tiredness in his calf and I didn't want to take any risk with him. "Luke McCowan came in and was fantastic." Meanwhile, raging Stephen Robinson claimed St Mirren were denied a clear penalty with the Paisley clash against Celtic poised at 3-2. Roland Idowu went down under Alistair Johnston’s challenge - but ref Matthew MacDermid ignored the home claims. Robinson said: "It’s not a good claim. It’s a penalty. "I don’t blame the ref as it happens quickly. "The ball has gone in a completely different direction from where Alistair has tried to make his challenge. "He’d got a little nick on the ball then followed through and the ball’s gone in a completely different direction from the tackle. "But it’s gone to VAR and they’re reviewed it and it’s not given so there’s not a whole lot we can do about it. "And they then go up the other end and score. "That's our problem, we can't blame VAR for that. "We’re in control of that, if we stop it we’re at 3-2 and still very much in the game, everything to play for. I thought we were on top in the game at that stage. "You also need luck against top teams. But it wasn't luck today. "It was just we didn't get the decision we should have got. "There were a lot of key moments in the game. "We had seven incredibly good chances that we didn't take and there were key moments in defending as well. "But it wasn't to be, when you give good teams opportunities and decisions don't go your way, you get results like today. "The fourth official was fantastic with me. Matthew MacDermid as well - they're waiting on VAR, they're looking for help. That's what we allegedly pay this money for. "I'll probably have a phone call on Monday morning again. "So I don't blame the referee. It's a decision VAR has made and they deem it right. "There’s disappointment at the moment because performances don't get you points. "We've had four tough games, we’ve taken four points out of them. "Now we've got four games where there's everything to play for and points to be gained. "We can't sit and feel sorry for ourselves. "There have been really good performances over the past month. "We just aren't clinical enough, we can't finish teams off when we have chances. Unfortunately, that's the level we work with. "That's why people are in the bottom six - they play good football, they do lots of good things. But scoring goals and defending your box wins and loses games." Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page