Celtic’s youth side are looking to lay down a title marker when they face Kilmarnock at Firhill tonight, kick-off 7pm, admission free.
Later this week Stevie Frail and John Kennedy take their squad to Abu Dhabi for a tournament that includes Inter Milan and Benfica but domestic matters are the priority tonight.
Celtic are 10 points and 13 points ahead of Aberdeen and Dundee United, who have a game in hand, and are determined to pick up full points tonight to leave no encouragement to their title rivals.
“We want to win against Kilmarnock on it’s own merit then enjoy the break going to the tournament in Abu Dhabi,” Frail said.
“As a team we know we can do better, this has been a season of two half’s for us. We played some good stuff in the Next Gen without putting together a full 90 minutes but haven’t been able to match that in recent matches, we’re a better team than we’ve been showing.
“This season the games are a lot tougher, we’ve moved up an age level and there are over-age players now involved as well.
“Every team makes it difficult for us and we know how tough it was against Kilmarnock in the cup semi-final. They played really well on the day and we know how tough this game will be.
“We scored a few goals last week against a good St Johnstone side which was pleasing, we want to continue that against Kilmarnock and put in a more complete overall performance.”
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We need to start with a high tempo and then keep the pressure on sides, too easily stifled at times. Aston Villa winning the Nextgen shows how close we were as we could easily have beaten them. Still think Sporting Lisbon were the real class act of the tourney but lost out in the semi’s to Villa after having 2 goals disallowed.
I’m sure the players will enjoy & learn from facing sides like Inter & Benfica..but first we MUST get our domestic form sorted out – much to play for and need to be hitting form again soon. Must admit I thought the step-up to 20s + overage would be too much but the bhoys have done extremely well to date….just need a final big push