Twardzik strike beats Longford

A second half penalty from Patrik Twardzik earned a youthful Celtic Development XI a 1-0 win over Longford Town last night.

With Calum Waters and Liam Henderson on first team duty alongside Jackson Irvine, Darnel Fisher and Liam Henderson, Stevie Frail and John Kennedy have had to dig deep into the Academy for the two match trip to Ireland that continues against Cork City on Sunday.

Longford are sitting at the top of the First Division after 17 games and provided the young Celts with exactly the type of test they needed.

“The fitness levels are great but players need games to get match sharp and that’s what we are playing these games in Ireland for,” Frail explained.

“You could see that Longford are in mid season, they are a good side and it was great to play in front of a crowd with a few pockets of Celtic supporters.

“We’ve got a young squad over here but they know that they are being assessed and watched in every training session. Every time they put on their boots and a Celtic jersey they know that they need to perform.

“It’s great for the boys to see Liam and Calum called into the first team squad and there are others like Bahrudin (Atajic) and Jackson (Irvine) involved which is fantastic for us.

“Before the match I told our players that a year ago we played at Cliftonville, who’s to say that in a year or two some of our players could be coming to a place like Longford or Cork in the Champions League, it’s amazing how quickly football changes.

“Cork will give us a tougher test and that’s something that we are all looking forward to.

“The boys know the opportunities in front of them, our job is to get them ready when their first team chance crops up.”

John Herron and Callum McGregor will join the Celtic first team squad for tomorrow’s friendly at Brentford.

CELTIC: Hart: O’Connell, McNally (Kelleher), McIlduff: McManus, Lindsay (Hoareau), Kidd (Donnelly): McMullan, Trialist (Johnstone), P Twardzik