Twardzik double beats Palace

A double from Patrik Twardzik earned a Celtic XI a victory over Crystal Palace this afternoon at St George’s Park.

It was the second time this season that Celtic had been invited to play at the FA’s new centre of excellence with the club happy to take on their second English opponents in a week after winning 3-1 at Everton on Tuesday.

The Everton fixture was for the u-17s with the side that faced Palace boosted by the inclusion of Bahrudin Atajic, Paul George, Darnell Fisher and Robbie Thomson.

Palace took the lead in the second minute but after finding their feet Celtic took control of the match with Twardzik netting from two assists from Paul McMullan who scored twice in the win over Everton.

“It was good to be invited down for the match and get the opportunity to get a game against good quality opponents,” youth coach Tommy McIntyre said.

“We started a bit slowly but once we found our tempo the boys played some good stuff, the scoreline probably didn’t reflect the balance of play.

“Games like this are great for the younger players and the older players benefited from getting a game under their belt.

“We played a very young defence and they came through the match well with Glen Eadie playing at right back when he replaced Bahrudin Atajic.

“Young players develop at different rates and have to take their chances, we’ve got a heavy schedule coming up at u-17 and u-20 and these type of games are great to see how players are developing.”

Celtic’s u-20 side face Inverness Caley Thistle at Firhill on Tuesday, kick-off 3pm.

CELTIC: Thomson (Fasan): Fisher, O’Connell, Kelleher, , Waters: McMullan, Henderson, McManus, P Twardzik (Barrowman): George, Atajic (Eadie), SUBS: Dineen, McDonagh

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