John Kennedy’s team-sheet will make fascinating reading tonight.
Celtic could easily have called off the match with Hearts at Newtongrange but as international doors open for some players opportunity arrives for others.
Scotland’s u-19 side will face Armenia with Joe Chalmers, Marcus Fraser, Stuart Findlay and John Herron involved. At u-21 level Callum McGregor is off to the Marbella Cup while Jackson Irvine and Paddy McNally are also in international duty.
“We feel we have a big enough squad to deal with the call-ups,” Kennedy explained. “It’s unfortunate that it’s an international week, it means some will miss out but there’s others to come in and take their opportunity.
“It’s a big match for players to come into and take their chance. The international boys have been a big part of our squad this year but there are players who’ve been waiting patiently for a game that deserve a chance.
“The easy option was to cancel the game but we thought why not, lets go and develop the other players and give them their chance.
“Obviously we want to win every game, some players will get their opportunity and hopefully one or two of them take it and show their capabilities.
“Lewis Kidd, Jamie Lindsay and Mikey Miller were on stand-by for Scotland but we’ll have them available alongwith Darnell Fisher and Bahrudin Atajic.
“Darnell has come in and cemented his place in the team, he’s still young but quite experienced in the u-20 group. He came in as a full-back in the last year and has made that position his own. He’s developing and getting better with every game.”
Hearts ran Celtic close until the finishing straight in last season’s u-19 title race with Kennedy expecting a strong challenge from the jambos after a slow start to the campaign.
“I expect this to be one of our toughest tests,” he explained. “In their first few matches Hearts fielded a very young team and never picked up many points.
“But looking at their team in the last few games they’ve brought in a lot of experience, maybe it was a step too much for their young players early on and they’ve adjusted that.
“They’ve won their last two matches and we expect a really tough match but that’s what we want to test and push our players.”
You can follow the action from Newtongrange on twitter tonight, kick off 7pm.
CLICK HERE for Green’s 100% backing for McCoist
Follow Video Celts on Twitter and Facebook