Celtic’s u-19 squad showed their strength in depth yesterday to beat Hibs 4-0 to take their points tally to the season to 56.
A win at home to Rangers in a fortnight will give the young hoops a record breaking tally of 59 from a possible 66 but the stats don’t begin to tell the full story.
Dylan McGeough, Filip Twardzik and Tony Watt could have been in yesterday’s starting XI but that trio have forced their way into Neil Lennon’s plans.
With regulars Joe Chalmers and Patrik Twardzik out injured there was an unfamiliar look about the side but after taking a bit of time to find their feet the trademark pushing and passing game opened up the visitors.
Hibs lack of discipline didn’t help their cause but having beaten Hearts twice this season the Edinburgh side are amongst the top sides in the division.
The Celtic coaching staff have a big selection ‘problem’ to consider before the SFA Youth Cup Final on Monday April 23 but it’s an issue that John Kennedy takes in his stride.
“It’s part and parcel of the game when you get to cup finals that there will be competition for places,” the hoops coach admitted. “It’s healthy and we’ve got good players who want to come in and be part of it.
“It’s not the eleven on the pitch, it’s about a squad with players coming in and it’s going to be a tough decision for us to sit down and pick the best eleven for the final.
“James (Alabi) came off the bench last week at Rangers and did very well with a couple of goals.
“He has developed this season, he’s a big powerful lad who has worked on his game, he holds the ball up well and can run in behind defenders.
“He got a goal and could have got two or three more, hopefully on another day he can take more of his chances.
“It’s good to have that strength in depth, when Tony (Watt) isn’t available or we have injuries that we have players like James, Liam Gormley and Bahrudin Atajic who’ll come in and play well.”
It took Celtic till the 44th minute to make the breakthrough when Curtis Jones rose at the back post to head home a Callum McGregor corner.
Within a minute of the restart Hibs were down to ten men for a double yellow with Kennedy pleased by the way that his side used the extra man to their advantage.
He explained: “It can be difficult against ten, we had to keep the tempo of the game up it can be hard to break teams down.
“Naturally Hibs became more defensive so it was great to see the boys kick on and add some goals.
“It would have been easy to sit in with two but credit to them they pushed on for more goals.
“We never have any low key matches, teams coming to play us want to win, that’s the nature of the game and the way that we like it.
“Even though the league has been won every match is very competitive and we look to win every time we go out on the park.”
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2011/12 Youth team roll of honour
Hibs 4-3 Watt 3, F Twardzik
Marseilles NGS 0-1
Dunfermline 2-0 Atajic, Herron
Aberdeen 1-1 George
Barcelona NGS 1-3 Watt
Dundee Utd 5-0 Williamson F Twardzik, og, Watt, Gormley
Motherwell 1-1 F Twardzik
Hearts 2-0 Herron, Williamson
St Johnstone 3-1Herron, McGeough McGregor
Man City NGS 4-2 Herron, George 2, Watt
Kilmarnock 5-1 P Twardzik 3, F Twardzik, Watt
Aberdeen 4-2 George Bogle 2, Watt
Man City NGS 2-1 McGeough, Fraser
Kilmarnock YC 5-0 Irvine 2 George, McGregor, Herron
St Johnstone 2-1 Bogle 2
Barcelona NGS 1-5 Watt
Hearts 1-2 George
Marseilles NGS 3-0 F Twardzik, Toshney George
Dunfermline YC 5-0 Irvine, Atajic, Chalmers, Twardzik, Watt
St Mirren 2-1 Watt, Herron
Inverness CT 6-1 Jones 3, Atajic, Watt, Fisher
Aberdeen 4-1 YC, F Twardzik 2, Watt, Herron
Dundee Utd 1-0 Watt
St Mirren 1-0 F Twardzik
Inverness CT 5-0 Gormley 2, McGregor 2, Fraser
Kilmarnock 4-1 F Twardzik, P Twardzik, Gormley, McGregor
Motherwell 5-2 Watt 4, McGregor
Dunfermline 4-0 Herron, George, Watt, McGregor.
St Mirren YC 4-1 Watt 2, Herron, F Twardzik
Rangers 3-0 Herron, Alabi 2
HIBS 4-0 Jones, Alabi, Herron, Atajic
SCORING LIST: Watt 21, F Twardzik 10, Herron 11, George 7, McGregor 7, Gormley 5, P Twardzik 5, Bogle 4, Atajic 4, Jones 4, Irvine 3, Alabi 3, Williamson 2, McGeough 2, Fraser 2, Toshney 1, Chalmers 1, Fisher 1, OG 1
