“Absolutely brilliant”; Michael Stewart left very impressed by Celtic duo vs Kilmarnock

Add as preferred source on Google

Many Celtic fans will be pleased to see the sight of Matt O’Riley back in form and scoring goals.

For a couple of months there, the Danish U21 international struggled to reclaim his place in the Celtic starting lineup due to the form of Aaron Mooy and Reo Hatate.

O’Riley was picked to start against Kilmarnock yesterday as Mooy seemed to struggle against Rangers at Celtic Park and Hatate recovers from injury.

O’Riley took his opportunity and repaid his manager with two well-taken goals.

Michael Stewart was discussing the Celtic midfielder and praised him for his part in the 4-1 win over Kilmarnock as well as highlighting Tomoki Iwata’s importance to the team’s performance.

Speaking on BBC Sportscene, Stewart said, “Those two finishes from Matt O’Riley were absolutely brilliant. Real composure. And obviously he’s been out the team for a wee bit, he’s got back. A very, very good player.

“I think he just needed a couple of games to find his feet again. That was a very good performance from him there.

“He’s somebody, looking ahead to the semi-final of the Scottish Cup, you’re expecting that he will perform better than he did in the last game against Rangers. He wasn’t bad but you would be looking for a little bit more.

“I think Iwata, he brings a lot to Celtic. I think he’s a fantastic player and it looked like there was better balance in there.”

Obviously, before Rangers, we still need to face Motherwell at Fir Park and a lot will depend on the fitness of Reo Hatate and Aaron Mooy should O’Riley have any hope of making the cup semi-final team.

One thing that cannot be denied is that he has done his chances no harm with his recent performances. Two goals against Kilmarnock and an assisting hand in the 3-2 win over Rangers last weekend are a sign he’s getting back to a peak.

If he can replicate that kind of form against Motherwell, it would certainly give Ange Postecoglou some food for thought when selecting his Scottish Cup side to face our Glasgow rivals.