Celtic’s B-side bounced back from the disappointment of losing to East Kilbride in their last Lowland League fixture to take all three points in a 4-1 win against Gretna 08 this afternoon, with Tsoanelo Letsosa scoring the pick of the goals in the Scottish borders.
Despite falling behind in the opening two minutes, Bruno Davidson, and Matthew Anderson also added to a Gretna own goal to seal the points, with the young stars replicating their powers of recovery from their 3-2 win at Albion Rovers in midweek.
B-Team coach Darren O’Dea told the Celtic website: “You try to always spin a negative into a positive. We don’t want to concede early and we’ve done that in the last couple of games which we’re not happy with as a group, but the positive out of that is that it tests your resolve.
“We struggled to break them down in the first half – tactically we weren’t great. What we could lean on was our physicality, we looked very strong and in the last number of games, we’ve grown into it.
“The problem is we’ve not started fast enough and that’s the next step to set the tempo from the first minute. The work they do, we can’t play this style without fitness and scoring late goals is testament to the work they’ve done from day one.”
Celtic fell behind straight from kick-off, as Gretna’s Russell Currie hit the deck under pressure from Dylan Corr, the same player stepping up to convert the penalty.
The youngsters almost conceded a second in the searing 30-degree heat, with Gretna’s goalscorer going close again with a header from 10 yards.
Celtic wrestled control of the game following a drinks break after a quarter of the match, Davidson and Kenzie Carse going close before Rocco Vata smashed the crossbar with a free-kick.
The equaliser would come just before halftime as Davidson’s cut-back was bundled over the line by a Gretna defender, as the Hoops laid siege to the home goal.
Celtic completed the comeback early in the second period, Davidson getting himself on the scoresheet with barely five minutes of the half gone in what would be the eventual winner, converting an Anderson cutback at the far post.
The young side were hungry for a third and Davidson almost repeated the trick with ten minutes to go, with the Greta keeper Main repelling the Singapore-born Scot’s far post finish after a cross from the left.
Letsosa made sure of the points with a long-range stunner, thrashing the ball into the top right corner from outside the area at 25 yards.
The goal has been described as an ‘absolute screamer’ by the official Celtic account, with 67 Hail Hail’s Lewis Laird in attendance describing it as a ‘goal of the season contender’.
Celtic weren’t done yet, adding a fourth and final goal with the last kick of the game, as Anderson added himself to the scoresheet with a driven shot from the left of the Gretna box.
Whilst the management team of O’Dea and Stephen McManus will be keen for the side to avoid giving themselves a mountain to climb every week, it speaks to the youngsters’ spirit that they refuse to let their heads go down despite another early concession.
The duo will pleased with Celtic’s response, particularly in difficult conditions in the sweltering heat on a plastic pitch.
It’s Hearts B away next up for the Academy side a week tomorrow, as they will look to continue their good form with another win in the Lowland League.
In other news: The Celtic answer to terrible pitch and strange pre-match Kilmarnock comments
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
