James Keatings made a scoring return for the Celtic development squad in the 1-1 draw at Sunderland yesterday.
A loan spell at St Johnstone last season turned out to be four months of frustration as he failed to get a chance in Steve Lomas’ side with an injury picked up in the opening pre-season match against Concordia Chiajna restricting his opportunities.
Keats was part of an attacking midfield trio that also included John Herron and Bahrudin Atajic as Stevie Frail’s side visited their counterparts at the Sunderland Academy.
“James picked up an injury against Concordia,” Frail explained. “He was looking a bit leggy until a week or so ago but he’s looked really sharp in training over the last week and it was good to get him back involved.
“I don’t think middle of the park is his ideal position but personnel wise we had to do that and got on the ball a bit to make things happen.
“He’s a goalscorer and put away a good penalty.”
Sunderland took the lead in the 35th minute with a Jordan Laider shot that was deflected past Glen Daniels in the Celtic goal.
Celtic were losing out in midfield but a tactical adjustment brought the visitors back into the match with Frail pleased with the display.
He added: “They were the better side in the first half but we tweaked our shape a little bit to counter that and coped well.
“We lost a goal to a deflection and felt that we were the better side in the second half.
“We had three footballing players in midfield, none of them are defensive minded, so we changed it a bit by bringing in Paul Slane and Patrik Twardzik to narrow things down.
“Once we did that it allowed our players to get on the ball more and pass it around, we got some width from Joe Chalmers and Darnell Fisher pushing up when we were in possession.”
Keatings equalised from the penalty spot with nine minutes left to play with Tony Watt hitting the post with a header in the last minute.
SUNDERLAND: Pickford, Laing, Oliver, Ferguson, Callaghan, Gorrin, Reed, Joyce, Deacon, Lynch, Laidler.
CELTIC: Daniels: Fisher, Irvine, Toshney, Chalmers: Herron, Atajic, Keatings; Slane (Kidd 60), Watt, P Twardzik
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