Darren O'Dea praises 'excellent' young quartet after Celtic B comeback win; watch the goals

By John McGinley

February 20, 2023

Darren O’Dea was full of praise for his Celtic B side after they came back from a goal deficit to beat Gretna 2008 3-1 in the Scottish Lowland Football League on Saturday.

The youngsters, who looked especially fresh-faced with injuries and call-ups to the first-team to contend with, battled back well to keep up their bid to win the division.

Goals from Mackenzie Carse and Joey Dawson powered the Bhoys towards victory, which you can watch embedded below or via this link.

O’Dea pleased with Celtic B progress

After the match, O’Dea had particular plaudits for four of his team, stating [Celtic FC]: “The B team are getting stronger in terms of the players developing all the time, but now we’re getting the next generation, if you like, come through. That team is probably the youngest team that the league will see this year, so there are boys in different stages of development.

“It was a good performance from everyone, but the ones we’d expect higher levels from because they’ve a little bit more experience at the level, I thought were excellent.

“I thought Mackenzie Carse showed he’s in really good form, as well as Joey Dawson and the two wingers, Ben Quinn and Bruno Davidson. They all did well and that helps then the younger ones coming in as they start to learn the standards and the traits that those ones have set.”

Celtic B sit in fourth place, six points behind league-leaders Rangers in the standings, but hold a game in hand, so there’s still hope of success.

Next up it’s the Glasgow Cup, and O’Dea is relishing the chance to play Clyde on Tuesday, continuing: “The Glasgow Cup is a good one as hopefully we come up against some first-team players and get the experience of that.

“We’re going to be close to 60 games at the end of the season, which is unheard of at this level, so it’s obviously fantastic.

“The Glasgow Cup is a new competition; we’ll attack it the way we’ve attacked everything in this season and that’s full on.”

The best of luck in that one!

In other news, Friday night lights derby vs Rangers kicks off big Celtic weekend – everything you need to know.