John Kennedy couldn’t mask his disappointment following Celtic’s 2-1 defeat against St Johnstone on Monday night.
Mikey Miller equalised for the home side either side of two Saints goals early in the second half as Celtic tasted defeat for the first time in eight matches.
International commitments and a development side match against Sunderland today meant that Celtic virtually fielded an u-18 side but Kennedy was disappointed that few of the players took the opportunity to make an impression.
“We never got started right, we never got going and other than a few very short spells we just never got going,” the hoops coach admitted.
“I believe that if you are good enough you are old enough. We know that they are good players, we trusted them to play at this level but too many of them underperformed.
“The bottom line is that they have the ability but just didn’t perform, there was too many not on their game and that effected the team as a whole. There was opportunities for some to make their mark, to give the coaches a headache for the games coming up so it was disappointing that they never took it.
“We lost two poor goals and didn’t do enough to take anything from the game”
One player who did catch the eye was Paul McMullan. Playing wide on the left he was a constant threat to the St Johnstone defence and on the end of some tough treatment from the visitors.
Kennedy added: “Paul has been out injured for a while but has been training well so we threw him in to see what he could do.
“He was excellent in pre-season, we know the ability he has and he showed that in chunks of the game. I though that he was our main threat, any time that the ball went to him that was when we got a bit of joy.
“We didn’t get the ball to him enough in the first half, in the second half St Johnstone started to double and triple up on him but that then freed up other people to get space but we didn’t exploit that enough.
“Paul can play through the middle, as a striker or out wide. His pace is always a threat, one-v-one with defenders he’ll always be a real threat. He’s adaptable and versatile to play in either role.”
On Sunday Celtic face Hearts at Tynecastle in the SFA Youth Cup before taking on Aston Villa in the Next Gen Series at Firhill on Wednesday.
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