Rampant young Celts crush Ajax

Celtic’s u-19 side turned on the style to see off Ajax with a highly entertaining 4-1 win over the Dutch side at Livingston.

A first half double from Joe Thomson provided the perfect platform for victory with Liam Henderson and Lewis Kidd also on target against the highly rated Dutch side.

After collecting hard luck stories in defeats from AC Milan and Barcelona there was a determination about the young hoops to make their mark with the Ajax defence under pressure from the first whistle.

Celtic quickly asserted themselves in the match with Connor McManus shooting over and Thomson forcing a save out of Ajax keeper Mous Xavier in the opening five minutes before the Dutch side began to play their way into the match.

There was a great open-ness about the game with both sides keen to pass the ball about and push forward at every opportunity .

In their two previous matches Celtic had lost early goals but fortunately there was no repeat at that at Livingston with the players showing a greater maturity and awareness as they set about the highly rated Dutch side.

The physical presence of Denny Johnstone, largely on the ground, alongside the pace and trickery of Paul McMullan was causing the Ajax defence a lot of problems.

Just past the hour mark Celtic took the lead with a brilliant goal from Thomson. Eoghan O’Connell made a Roy Aitken style run bursting out of defence before sliding through a great ball to Thomson who showed no nerves to despatch the ball past Mous in the Ajax goal.

Two minutes later Celtic stretched their lead with the Ajax defence looking ragged as they were cut open by McMullan whose cross to the back post was knocked goalwards by Jamie Lindsay with Thomson leaving nothing to chance by bundling the ball over the line.

It was a great reward for the young Celts who had stuck to their task gamely, taken their chances and eliminated any errors at the back.

There was more to come before the interval with Henderson happy to accept a freak goal to put Celtic in three up at the break. Under pressure, an Ajax defender tried to blast the ball up the park but it smashed off Henderson and flew into the net to the delight of the young midfielder that featured for the first team in pre-season.

Celtic started the second half with Fiace Kelleher replacing his fellow Irishman O’Connell in the centre of the hoops defence.

Five minutes into the second half Celtic were reminded that the game was very much still live when Findlay sliced the ball past Max Oberschmidt into the net as he stretched to cut out a cross from the left.

Ajax almost pulled another goal back two minutes later but after an Ajax forward chipped past Oberschmidt there was a collective sigh of relief as the ball slipped past the post.

After the wobble Celtic regained their composure with only the flag of a linesman preventing them from going 4-1 up after a Thomson effort was judged offside after the Ajax keeper parried a shot from Johnstone.

Celtic did go 4-1 up in the 65th minute when Kidd slotted home a penalty after Henderson was sent tumbling in the penalty box.

Ajax carried a threat through to the final whistle but after working so hard to get in front Celtic never looked like giving anything away.

Despite the emphatic nature of the win the young hoops know that they will face very determined, and talented, opponents in two weeks time when they travel to Holland.

With the exception of Kidd, Jamie Lindsay, Findlay and Johnstone all of the Celtic squad are eligible to play in next season’s tournament- if Celtic qualify.

CELTIC: Max Oberschmidt; Lewis Kidd, Eoghan O’Connell (Fiace Kelleher 46) , Stuart Findlay, Aidan McIlduff; Jamie Lindsay, Connor McManus, Liam Henderson; Joe Thomson (Connor McLaren 80), Denny Johnstone (Luke Donnelly 90), Paul McMullan

SUBS: Jordan Hart, Sam Wardrop,  Steven Boyd, Calvin Miller.