After being brushed aside 3-0 by Manchester United in midweek, the Scottish champions looked to be back in to their stride when skipper Stephen McManus and Cillian Sheridan, with his first goal in his first start, fired them ahead.

However, Steven Fletcher's drive deflected off Colin Nish and past Artur Boruc just before the break and five minutes after the interval Fletcher levelled from a Nish cross.

But Strachan's men rallied and with 15 minutes remaining.

Glenn Loovens, on at half-time for McManus, headed in a Shaun Maloney corner before Scott Brown grabbed number four.

Strachan, who revealed that McManus had come off with a tight hamstring, insisted that his players' efforts were remarkable but not unexpected.

"Our stamina was truly phenomenal and our drive was phenomenal." he said.

"To play against the (European) champions on Tuesday and come back against a team who has had a rest for a while was fantastic.

"Going to 2-2 was a mental test as well for the team but I learned nothing, absolutely nothing.

"The players have been doing it for three years now, driving on, winning championships, qualifying against good sides, winning cups, and producing football that is good to watch.

"A lot of players can talk about what they want to do but at this club, talking is no good, you have to do it.

"Talking is for other clubs, doing is for here."

Strachan was pleased that 19-year-old Sheridan had grabbed his first goal.

Referring to the loss of his three other target men - Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Georgios Samaras and Chris Killen, through injury - the Celtic boss said: "I like the fact that he is tall and he is the only tall striker that we've got!

"It's maybe a wee bit early for him because I don't know if he had played 10 reserve games for the full 90 minutes and he has been here for a year and a half now.

"We needed to build him up because he was raw and he still needs a bit of work but he gave us what we needed: power and a threat behind their defence."

Sheridan was understandably excited to score on his full debut.

The young Irishman said: "It was brilliant. As a striker, you are there to score goals.

"Stephen McManus played it up and Scott McDonald saw me out of the corner of his eye.

"I saw the keeper coming out and I knocked it past him and I focused on keeping it on target."

Hibs boss Mixu Paatelainen claimed his side deserved better than just praise for contributing to an entertaining game but pointed to individual errors as the fundamental reason behind today's defeat.

He said: "We passed the ball well, there was good movement and coming back from 2-0 down was a fantastic achievement.

"But the set-piece goal was disappointing. Credit to him (Loovens) but we had a man on the post (Lewis Stevenson) doing a job and it squeezed in.

"I thought the first goal was really bad as well, John Rankin missing the ball in an area where he should clear.

"So there were one or two people not doing their jobs as well as they should but those two players were not the only ones."