Celtic goalkeeper Ross Doohan is seriously taking his loan opportunity with both hands at Tranmere Rovers.
The Lennoxtown academy graduate was thrown into the first team by Micky Mellon after an injury to Joe Murphy. And it’s fair to say that Ross isn’t letting him down.
In what’s a big year for Doohan, he’s managed to end an 18-month personal drought over the weekend. In between the sticks at Forest Green Rovers, the shot-stopper managed to bag another clean sheet. This comes after his first shutout of the season against Salford City last week.
Doohan hasn’t managed back-to-back clean sheets at senior level since 2020. That came back in his Ayr United days when he managed to keep ot Dundee United and Dundee in March.
Granted, it wasn’t the busiest afternoon for him at the weekend. Forest Green had two efforts from outside the penalty area that Doohan had to show good hands to clutch. Outside of that, however, he’ll feel he wasn’t overly-tested.
Even so, it’s a fine achievement for him to bag his second clean sheet in two games. He finally looks like being given a run by Mellon, and the more shutouts he gets, the more he bolsters his reputation.
Massive year for Celtic man Ross Doohan; already seizing his opportunities
It initially looked as though first-team chances were going to be hard to come by for Ross. He was playing second fiddle to Murphy and didn’t play in the first six games of the season.
However, there was always a relationship there between Mellon and Doohan. Remember, it was the former that signed the Celtic man on an emergency loan for Dundee United last year. He clearly saw enough to impress him and convince him that Doohan deserved a shot down south.
Keeping the jersey is going to be difficult of course. That’s what Celtic will want. They’ll be looking for Doohan to rise to the challenge and bag senior minutes in the face of strong competition from elsewhere. He needs to show that level of character if he one day wants to be operating in between the Celtic sticks.
That’s Doohan’s ultimate goal. He outlined as much after making the move to Tranmere in the first place [Scottish Sun]. However, the eagle-eyed will be aware that Ross’ contract expires in the summer of 2022, meaning his final year will be spent away from Lennoxtown.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing however. It’s more important that Doohan is experiencing first-team exposure more than it is him sitting on the sidelines at Celtic Park. This gives him the perfect opportunity to show he’s worth a new deal.
The early signs are promising with the 23-year-old battling back to win a spot in the starting XI and running with it. Hopefully, he can continue to build on his early-season momentum and keep the clean sheets coming.
In other news, Dundee Utd player discloses what Clancy told teammate about Celtic penalty decision
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