Matt O’Riley has revealed that his gutting miss against Dundee United at Celtic Park motivated him to bag his first Hoops goal against Aberdeen last night.
O’Riley finally netted his maiden goal for the club in his 6th appearance after impressing supporters in his early weeks at Parkhead. The £1.5m arrival from MK Dons has proved a bargain, showing creativity as well as an ability to do the dirty work when required [STV].
The Englishman did, however, come close to his first Celtic goal in his first ever game at Parkhead. In a 1-0 win over Dundee United, the ball was cutback to the midfielder inside the penalty area with the goal gaping. Yet incredibly he managed to pull the ball wide in a shocker of a miss.
But he made amends last night at Pittodrie as his deflected strike showed good initiative to put Celtic 2-0 ahead. The match would eventually end in a 3-2 win, with O’Riley also adding another assist to his name. Yet clearly, it was his first goal for the club that relieved him the most.
Speaking post-match with Celtic TV, O’Riley said: “I’m not going to lie, before the game I was like ‘I could do with scoring tonight’ because it’s 5 games in. I had one really good chance against Dundee United which I definitely should’ve put away so that was definitely playing on the back of my mind a little bit.
“I’m definitely happy to get it on the board. I haven’t looked at my phone. I was just soaking in the changing room. Sometimes I don’t like to go on my phone, I just like being with the lads and enjoying the moment.
“But when I get back on the coach I’ll have a look and I’m sure I’ll have messages from fans, family and friends which will be nice.”
Matt O’Riley adds the one thing missing to his Celtic start – a goal
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a midfielder or a centre-forward, until you get your first goal for your new club, there’s always a monkey on your back. Matt finally managed to get rid of his against the Dons last night.
Granted, you could tell in his debut against Hearts that O’Riley wasn’t going to be without a goal to his name for long. He showed at Tynecastle how much he likes to get forward and link with the forward players.
In every game he’s started for the club, he’s gotten himself into dangerous positions. Against Rangers he was using good footwork and positional sense to find space down the inside right channel. Not to mention his big chance against United that acted as motivation for him. That goal was never going to take too long to come.
But even so, it’s clear it was weighing on his mind. 5 games is hardly any time at all, but it shows the expectation levels O’Riley puts on himself to get amongst the scorers.
It’s hardly as if he’d been having a dry spell in terms of goal contributions since arriving either. His assist last night marked his 3rd for the club [Transfermarkt]. That means 4 direct goal contributions in just 6 appearances, with 1 coming from the bench.
But nothing anyone could say to him would’ve stopped him from being irked about not netting his first goal. Last night allows him to finally exorcise that particular demon.
In other news, Rival supporters in meltdown as they rage over superb night for Celtic
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