What next for Celtic’s forgotten left-back?

Even with the option of naming nine substitutes Liam Scales was unable to make it onto the Celtic bench at Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final. 

The left-sided defender was signed from Shamrock Rovers in August but hasn’t played any football since the Europa Conference defeat away to Bodo Glimt on February 24. 

Josip Juranovic and Greg Taylor are Celtic’s first choice full-backs with the Croatian able to play in either position. 

At Hampden yesterday both full-backs were injured with the hoops playing extra-time with two players out of position in those slots, Stephen Welsh on the right and Tony Ralston on the left. 

Celtic’s substitute list yesterday contained two central defenders, Welsh and Chris Jullien, plus four midfielders David Turnbull, Matt O’Riley, James McCarthy and Yosuke Ideguchi. Ange Postecoglou opted against having cover for Scales.

Starting eight matches and scoring twice the Irishman appeared to be making some progress in his Celtic career but no minutes since February and overlooked entirely for yesterday’s match poses questions about the future prospects of the 23-year-old.