Celtic were able to give supporters some light relief from the international break during their midweek trip to take on Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.
Emerging as 3-2, Luis Palma’s hat-trick on Irish shores for Celtic has won the Honduran favour as he bids to work his way back into Brendan Rodgers’ plans.
Luke McCowan and Hyunjun Yang were also on song for the Bhoys on a night of celebration for their support across the water. Meanwhile, Maik Nawrocki, Stephen Welsh and Maik Nawrocki added to their minutes for the season.
All in all, Rodgers was pleased with Celtic’s outing in Sligo, as he told fringe players to look upon the clash as an opportunity to seize their chance, which some of them delivered on.
He wasn’t the only one happy with the night’s work. Peter Grant has now chimed in to offer some other reasons to be positive after the Hoops defeated the League of Ireland opposition.
Peter Grant on Celtic’s win over Sligo Rovers
Speaking on the Go Radio Football Show, Grant lauded the ‘terrific attitude’ shown collectively by the Celtic’s senior players and young stars against Sligo Rovers.
He explained: “I thought all the senior players showed a terrific attitude. I think that’s the biggest thing when you go to these games because everybody is getting a break, everybody is going away and having a bit of time off; all the other teams and these boys went out there.
“I’m sure, in the back of their mind, they would like to spend this little bit of time (off) because even though they’re not playing, they’re travelling everywhere, they’re on the bench week in, week out, but all the senior players’ attitude was excellent. You expect that from the younger ones, but they have to show it first and foremost.
“They went about their business proper; Palma got in at the back post a few times, and Yang was chasing back after if he lost possession, just small things. I know people say you expect that, but it’s easy enough to throw the towel in and think ‘well I shouldn’t be playing this’, but every one of their attitudes were excellent.
“The young boys stood up to it, they showed they could play and handle the ball in the middle of the pitch, there was a few of the young boys in there. Turley, I like him; I’ve liked him all through pre-season. He has a good understanding of the game and can play with good players.”
Celtic turn their focus to upcoming Aberdeen clash
Now that the dust has settled on the Sligo exercise, Celtic boss Rodgers has laid out his plan for facing Aberdeen next Saturday in a top-of-the-table Scottish Premiership clash.
The Irishman said: “A little bit of rest, but then, obviously planning ahead for that really exciting game. The first game back, so I’m looking forward to that and we will have a couple of days to recover now. It’s been a long period of games, seven games in 23 days.
“A little bit of recovery time and then we’ll look forward to get everyone back in preparing for the Aberdeen game.”
While 12 Celtic players are on international duty, the collective focus at Celtic will now be on claiming three points to kickstart their momentum ahead of a busy fixture schedule.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
