Celtic’s Development side received glowing praise for their performance in last night’s 2-1 win over Dundee at Cappielow.
It wasn’t quite the beautiful game but with a team built around last season’s u-17 side they were given priceless experience against a streetwise Dundee outfit.
Only Jamie Lindsay and Marcus Fraser of the outfield players had enjoyed any sort of run of games at this level but the young hoops responded with a determination to succeed and refused to buckle even while under the severest of pressure.
With a Kieran Tierney goal splitting the side’s at half-time Celtic found themselves under intense pressure from Dundee at the start of the second half but bolstered by Fraser and goalkeeper Leo Fasan they held firm allowing Paul McMullan to break away and earn the penalty that put Celtic two up.
“I’m really pleased,” Stevie Frail admitted afterwards. “We set a standard about the way we want to play, we like to get the ball down and pass it, we train that way and have to develop players for Celtic that way but tonight it was slightly different.
“We had our youngest ever side at this age level, they threw themselves in front of things, they weren’t going to be beaten and put in some periods of quality going forward as well as battling hard.
“We reacted well under a lot of pressure, against experienced opponents, I’m absolutely delighted with the effort, commitment and ultimately the three points.”
After draws with St Mirren and Dundee United it was a welcome win with the u-20 league making way for a Development League which is for reserve teams in all but name.
Frail added: “In this league you can use five overage players and Dundee did that. David Clarkson has played at the top level in Scotland and also at a good standard in England, Simon Ferry is a terrific players with great quality. It was a great education for our young players and they stuck at it.”
Consistency of selection is a rarity at this level but Frail knows that he has a batch of emerging players capable of coming in and doing themselves justice whenever required.
“I don’t know the team for next week,” he added. “We could go to Ross County next week and have five overage players, the manager has indicated that he will use first team players in this league. It is a good competitive standard there is a competitive edge to these games.
“We started with six u-18s and that’s fantastic, we also have Liam Henderson and Eoghan O’Connell that are u-19’s as well as Connor McManus who is our captain.”
In among the younger players last night Fraser wore the armband, leading by example and using his experience to hold Dundee at bay as they pushed forward.
The previous night he had played for 30 minutes in Scotland’s 3-0 win over Luxembourg u-21’s and turned up at Cappielow in his Scotland kit ready for action.
Frail added: “Special mention for Marcus, he landed in Glasgow at 4.30 after being away with the Scotland u-21’s. I asked if he wanted to play and he laughed at me! He told me it was a stupid question and got down to play and captained the team the way he normally does.
“I had the same situation with Fiacre Kelleher. He played for 80 minutes for Ireland u-19’s against Holland and was ready to play. We put him on for the last few minutes and we’re delighted with his attitude.
“Before the game I was excited to see how the players fared, to see how they react and they responded brilliantly.”
CELTIC: Fasan; Waters, Fraser (c), McCart (Fiacre Kelleher 87), McIlduff; Miller (Anthony Ralston 83), Thomson, Breslin, Lindsay, Tierney (Regan Hendry 68); McMullen
SUBS: Jordan Hart, DanHiggins, Rory Curry
CLICK HERE for match report
