Alistair Johnston was honoured to captain Celtic in the 3-0 win over Motherwell. So much so that he nodded in the crucial second goal 10 minutes into the second half.
With Callum McGregor calling off injured on Saturday night and Cameron Carter-Vickers coming out of rehab on the bench Brendan Rodgers selected the Canadian to lead his side at Fir Park.
In less than two years Johnston has made a huge impact on Celtic with his leadership qualities as significant as his ability.
When you are thrown in to a Glasgow Derby at Ibrox to make your debut and thrive on the occasion it is obvious that you are made of the right stuff.
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Johnston has often referenced his Ice Hockey background, something that has came in useful in the cut and thrust of Scottish football.
For 68 minutes today the Canadian captained Celtic, when Carter-Vickers replaced Alex Valle Johnston handed the armband over to his fellow North American.
Today’s 3-0 win returns Celtic to top spot in the Premiership table, ahead of Aberdeen on goal difference,
There are four demanding matches left to be played before the next international break including a cup semi-final and Champions League tie.
Leaders can be in short supply in the modern game but in Johnston Celtic have a very worthy captain in waiting behind McGregor and Carter-Vickers.
Definitely (Vice) Captain personality. Like Big Tommy Gemmell!
Lol Rory Hamilton on TV last night giving it Celtic will be sweating now that Aberdeen are top of the league and 3 points clear,oh dear we are club that is sweating at that point 3 points adrift.
Now he never mentioned sevco being under any pressure at all though at that time sevco had been 9 points behind Aberdeen.
How can that FUD make that statement calling out Celtic sweating,when really we all know it’s the klub on the other side of the city that’s sweating.
Aye, quite a game today with plenty of incidents.
AJ was tremendous and thoroughly earned his Man of the Match award.
And, VAR was brought in to clarify dubious things in fitba, like the penalty which wasn’t given because it was for Celtic (though it was a stonewaller) yet the arm-assisted ‘goal’ at the same incident was disallowed. Cheating hun bastards, sickening, but we still came through 3-0. The assault on Adam Idah was a straight red 24/7 and the dirty bastard deserved to go off. I can still see Adam’s foot almost at right angles to his leg as he was fouled and can only thank our lucky stars it wasn’t serious ligament damage or a broken ankle. Just hope he’s okay.
On another note, I’m seriously worried about Reo and have been for around a year now. He’s not playing anything like his ability. About 5 times today he could’ve had a go but opted for a simple side-ways pass and had a fantastic opportunity late on which he tried but missed. FFS Celtic, help him out!