Frail: We showed character to get draw (video highlights)

A youthful Celtic Development XI were pushed all the way by Cliftonville this afternoon as the treams shared four goals at Solitude.

Tony Watt and Callum McGregor scored for the visitors but a last minute strike from Joe Gormley gave the home side a draw but there was no repeat of their 3-0 win in 2009.

Josh Thompson and Morten Rasmussen were the only players with real top team experience with both of them substituted as the youthful trio of Glenn Eadie, Ross Madden and Mark Barrowman, combined age of 47, gained invaluable experience.

After the match 15-year-old Barrowman tweeted: “Played the second half against Cliftonville today for the development squad, great experience against a physical team.

After the match Eadie who replaced Rasmussen in the 40^th minute tweeted: “Absolutely shattered, cant wait to get home into my bed.”

Liam Boyce opened the scoring for the home side with the visitors equalising in the 78^th minute when Watt headed home a free kick from Patrik Twardzik.

McGregor looked to have won the match for Celtic when he showed raced from the halfway line to slot home a low shot from 20 yards out but Gormley equalised to the delight of the home fans.

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We can’t just rely on playing football, we have to work on the horrible side of the game,” coach Stevie Frail said afterwards. “That’s the message that we have to get across to the players.

“When they are playing against an Irish League team they are up and at it and treat the match like a cup final. It was a tight match and we showed a bit of character to get back into it from being a goal down.

“It was pleasing to finish with a 15-year-old and two 16-year-old’s in the side and that’s a fantastic experience for them.”

Watt tweeted: “Nice to get a goal today but the whole team had a poor game! Hard hard game and cliftonville did very well!

CELTIC: Thomson: Toshney, Thompson (Barrowman 45), Fraser, Chalmers; Atajic, Fisher, McGregor, P Twardzik (Madden 88): Rasmussen (Eadie 40), Watt

Unused sub: Daniels

Scorers: Watt, McGregor

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