Stevie Frail
Celtic’s u-19 youth side face Motherwell tomorrow determined to bounce back from their 4-2 defeat from Rangers.
That defeat was a massive disappointment for everyone concerned as the Ibrox kids dominated throughout the match to inflict Celtic’s first defeat of the season.
Coaches Stevie Frail and Tommy McIntyre have been picking over the bones of Tuesday’s game and attempting to find the balancing act of working on weaknesses without undermining the impressive performances that the team has turned in so far this season.
At whatever level they are involved Celtic teams are judged by how they perform against Rangers and although only three points are at stake losing the derby match is always painful.
“We’ve had a couple of good days training since Tuesday and the boys are looking sharp again,” Frail said. “We highlighted the threat that Rangers would pose before the match but on the day the players never reacted or played as they can.
“We did create a few chances in the first half but overall we know that it was a poor performance and that we can do better. We’ve got a match against Motherwell tomorrow and that’s something to look forward to.
“We know that this club will always be judged by how we perform against our biggest rivals. Last season we lost at home to Rangers then beat them at Murray Park at an important stage of the season and also won the cup final at Hampden.
“People will look at our results against Rangers, if we win by a few goals against other teams it doesn’t matter as much as the result against Rangers.
“That’s the way things are at Celtic. All that we can do is go out and win our matches and get back to the sort of form we’ve been showing this season.”
Celtic v Motherwell u-19s, Lennoxtown 11am, November 20