Jozo’s return

After a month on the sidelines Jozo Simunovic was glad to be back in the heart of the action.

Following the 1-1 draw with Sevco in which the home defence looked vulnerable the former Dinamo Zagreb man seemed certain to be back in the Celtic side.

When Brendan Rodgers announced his team Simunovic was partnered with Dedryck Boyata but for over an hour they had next to nothing to do defensively.

Shortly before the interval Boyata had a header cleared off the line but almost on the stroke of half-time Simunovic opened the scoring with a close range shot that took a slight deflection before arching round Scott Bain into the net.

That strike took the tension out of the half-time team talk with Simunovic delighted to be making a contribution after weeks of watching from the sidelines.

“I have worked hard in the last month, I didn’t play much but my work paid off,” he told Celtic TV.

“I showed that against Dundee. It’s part of football, you never know what happens tomorrow, so you use every day like it’s your last.

“That was my thinking every day last month.”

With no international call up this week Simunovic can put in a fortnight’s preparation for the visit to Hearts knowing that he’s a certain starter as Celtic go all out to wrap up the title race.