Bren hails his fighters
BRENDAN RODGERS last night saluted Celtic’s mentality as Alan Archibald defended Partick Thistle bad-boy Gary Fraser’s character.
The Parkhead boss capped a terrific day as his troops surged five points clear in the title race with a 2-0 win over Thistle after strikes from Stuart Armstrong and Kieran Tierney and also
tied up the signing of German defender Mavin Compper while edging towards the capture of St Mirren’s Lewis Morgan.
Rodgers was thrilled at the way his troops bounced back from their 4-0 loss to Hearts which ended their 69-game unbeaten domestic run and set themselves up for Saturday’s showdown at home to Aberdeen.
He said: “It’s a mark of the team. I’ve seen it in my time here. I said to them before the game that you define yourself when you have disappointment by what your reaction is to it.
“It’s so, so tough for the players. You are virtually asked to play back-to-back seasons. It’s incredible the energy they have to put in.
“It took us a bit of time to get going but you see the condition of the players and how they got stronger during the game.
“We created other chances and it was vital for us to keep a clean sheet.”
Celtic’s win made it two years without a home domestic loss and Rodgers added: “I wasn’t aware of that record.
“The result says a lot about our mentality. Sunday wasn’t so good but that can happen.
“For the team to have that record until then and then go two years unbeaten at home shows remarkable concentration, will and desire.”
But, while Rodgers was convinced about his own players, he reserved judgement on the actions of Fraser.
The Partick sub sparked anger among Celtic fans and players after smashing a ball into home supporters in the Main Stand from point-blank range in the closing stages.
Jags boss Archibald insisted it was an accident and said: “He didn’t mean it. I think he tried to smash the ball off the boards.
“Nobody in their right mind would try and do that from so close, especially with the way he hits the ball.
“No, there was no reason for it, nothing in it. He didn’t mean it. I don’t think there was any malice in it. He’s not that type of lad.
“We’ll deal with it. He’s not done it deliberately. He’s tried to apologise at the end. That’s all we can do.”
Rodgers added: “I just caught the tail end of it. I would give the benefit of the doubt to the player because I would hope he wouldn’t smash a ball into a crowd on purpose.
“It was only my staff who told me what happened. You’d like to think he didn’t mean it.
“If you are that close to supporters who are paying money to go and watch a game, you shouldn’t be doing things like that.”
However, the incident couldn’t overshadow the success of the day for Celtic. With Compper signed, Morgan is set to join him in a £300,000 deal which will see the attacker stay at St Mirren until the end of the season.
Rodgers stayed tightlipped on the Paisley ace, but spoke of the German as he said: “He’s at a great age and is coming from a top European clubs.
“Marvin’s coming from one of the leading leagues in Europe and he fits the profile. He’s quick, naturally left sided, which we don’t have, and is a good talker.
“We’ll hopefully have more business to do and some players will go out as they want to be playing more games.
“Marvin is a great start and is a sign of intent that we want to improve. He’s a great asset to us.”