Miller scored Celtic's second goal at the Falkirk Stadium as the defending champions secured their first win of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign.

He had been an unused substitute against Kilmarnock last week, but came in at the expense of Maciej Zurawski to partner Vennegoor of Hesselink against the Bairns.

Strachan told Setanta 1: "I'm very pleased for Kenny Miller. He set the standard on how we close down up front.

"He got about the place and we followed him in."

Asked where Miller features in his plans, given Celtic's abundance of strikers, Strachan said: "He's number two. They (Vennegoor of Hesselink and Miller) are number one and number two at the moment.

"Kenny forced himself into the team because of his training performances and his hunger."

Miller's promotion comes at the cost of McSocceroo, Scott McDonald who has missed his new club's first two games through suspension.

But before even kicking a ball for Celtic in the Premier League, he has found himself relegated to Strachan's third choice striker.

Strachan insisted the entertaining game "deserved to have a 50,000 crowd watching it", and saluted his team's performance as "absolutely brilliant".

But he took issue with being told by the fourth official to tone down his celebrations, claiming he had only reacted with such emotion after being taunted during the game.

"You can't celebrate now," said Strachan. "In the PC world it's impossible to celebrate.

"Because people have been calling you names left right and centre for an hour, or more than that, they've decided that jumping up and celebrating is terrible and to call people all sorts of names is okay in front of kids."

Falkirk manager John Hughes vowed to appeal against the red card shown to Kenny Milne, which presented Celtic with the free-kick from which Shunsuke Nakamura found the net for Celtic's third goal.

Milne and team-mate Darren Barr were jostling for possession with Vennegoor of Hesselink on the edge of the Falkirk penalty area when the striker went over.

It appeared to be Barr who made the most contact, and in any case Hughes insisted neither man was guilty of a professional foul. Dougie McDonald decided it was a red-card offence however, and ordered Milne off.

"The sending-off was an absolute shocker, a joke," Hughes told Setanta 1.

"It happens, he's sent off the wrong guy today.

"Was it a clear goalscoring opportunity? No, the two boys were behind the ball.

"It was Darren Barr that clipped him. Will he (McDonald) go and look at it, and see he made a mistake so we can get that rescinded? I hope so.

"If the shoe was on the other foot and it was two Celtic players going through with my guy, would the red card come out? I don't think so.

"I'm going to appeal it. As long as you're right, you have to let your players know you're standing up for them.

"When you go to these appeal boards it's a case of ... you're wasting your time. Hopeful common sense will prevail."

Hughes did have praise for Celtic, who came from behind to win.

But he claims the outcome could have been very different if his team had not been reduced to 10 men.

"Celtic deserved to win the match," said Hughes. "Every time we get decisions like that against the big boys, big decisions go against us. That one certainly did.

"Even at 2-1 you're still in the match. That one certainly swung the match."