Derby draw satisfies McIntyre

Tommy McIntyre was delighted to see Celtic’s u-17 side do themselves justice in the 2-2 Glasgow Cup draw with Sevco on Thursday.

Things looked as bleak as the Murray Park weather for the young hoops on Thursday night as they trailed 2-0 at the interval after the home side capitalised on poor defending.

After the break Celtic played with greater purpose with a sizzling 30-yard drive from Liam Henderson bringing them right back into the match.

Paul McMullan scored a deserved equaliser five minutes from the final whistle to keep Celtic in the hunt for a place in the final of the competition.

“We didn’t start the game well but I could have no argument with how we played once we started to play,” McIntyre said. “I thought that we were excellent, took the game by the scruff of the neck, showed a lot of character and with a bit of luck we could have won the game.

“We have good players, there is always a learning process in the development of young players. I’ve no doubt about their ability but they have to work hard to get consistency. They’ve been doing that, working hard in training and that’s been showing up in games.

“As the game went on we got stronger, played at a good tempo and did themselves justice. They passed the ball well, kept their discipline and got themselves back into the match.”

McIntyre’s side consists of a mix of players on the fringe of the u-20 squad as well as emerging players coming through from the club’s academy.

Sixteen-year-old Joe Thomson was starting his first competitive game of the season on Thursday night and looked right at home in midfield alongside Henderson and Conor McManus.

“Joe has deserved his chance, he was outstanding a couple of weeks ago against St Mirren and scored twice,” McIntyre added. “He’s an honest boy, works hard and has a great drive and determination.

“For him to come in so young and do really well is very pleasing. He gelled in well alongside Henderson and McManus who are a bit older than Joe.”

Henderson, McMullan, Glen Eadie and Callum Waters have been involved with the u-20 side at various times this season with McIntyre setting the bar high for goalscorer McMullan.

“We’ve told Paul that our strikers should be scoring 20 goals plus per season,” the Celtic coach added. “That’s a good standard. Paul took his goal well and was very brave all through the game.

“Players like Tony Watt and James Keatings have managed that and that’s the target for Paul and others in the younger age bracket.

“They need to learn to be more ruthless, as they get older the games get tougher and chances are less frequent. They can’t take it for granted that they’ll get chance after chance.

“They need to develop that ruthlessness to take their chances to progress to the levels that we are looking for.”

CLICK HERE for Sevco 2-2 Celtic match report

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