Ewan Henderson’s support from the team before and after his Motherwell display has been revealed.
The Celtic academy product managed to put in a man-of-the-match display against Motherwell at Celtic Park last month. It was a stunning show, with Henderson bagging his second assist in two matches for the club.
Since then, he put in an impressive showing at Tynecastle before coming on as a late substitute at Easter Road. Both matches ended in a win for the Hoops. Celtic are still in a period of transition after the departure of Brendan Rodgers, but Henderson’s opportunities have remained frequent.
But, speaking in this week’s Celtic View (Volume 54, Issue 32, pages 23 and 24), Henderson opened up on the encouragement of his team-mates.
“The first 10 minutes of the Motherwell game, I thought I was poor. As you might expect, Scott Brown is really good at talking to everyone on the pitch, but so are all of the players.
“I didn’t even think about my performance or the thought that I might have picked up Man of the Man award. I didn’t find that out until after the game when I spoke to the media inside the tunnel.
“The boys came around me in the dressing room to congratulate me. On the bus on the way there, the other players just told me to play my usual game. They said if I was able to do that, then I would be fine.”
Team leaders rippling throughout the team
It’s clear from Henderson’s words that there are several leaders in the side. Scott Brown may be the captain, but the encouragement Henderson received both before and after Motherwell is what we’re after as supporters.
The game itself finished 4-1. Henderson showed real flashes of talent with his drive, range of passing, and quick feet. His natural game that the team told him to play on the bus to Parkhead turned out to be full of flair and industry. His assist came for the second goal of the game, crossing for Odsonne Edouard to head home. You can watch highlights of that one here.
Henderson has been slipping into the midfield like a glove. Despite at times struggling with the physical aspect of the contests such as Hearts away, he’s been influential every time he’s been on a pitch for the senior side.
His big challenge now will be trying to get some more game-time when the big hitters return. The likes of Callum McGregor, Ryan Christie, and Olivier Ntcham will come back from injury at some stage. With Nir Bitton also back in the match-day squads, Henderson needs to be taking his chances.
He’s done that so far, and it appears the rest of the squad have had a part to play in keeping him encouraged too.
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