Sinclair is rested and raring to bounce back from lull by recapturing award-winning form

CRAIG SWAN

SCOTT SINCLAIR smiles when he gets told he lost it at Celtic last term.

After all having scooped just about every Player of the Year award during a dynamic first year in Glasgow he still followed up by finishing top scorer with 18 goals during the double treble campaign.

In career terms it was hardly the equivalent of falling off a cliff. Yet, when it comes to his overall play and general sparkle, the supporters sensed an understandable lull.

Sinclair doesn’t attempt to hide from that. Brendan Rodgers admitted he could see on the first day of pre-season last year his winger just wasn’t at it. c.swan@dailyrecord.co.uk

By the end of the season the manager was having a chat with his player about how to change things as he prepared to drop him from the starting line-up for the history-making Scottish Cup Final win over Motherwell.

It wasn’t the plan yet now it looks to be changing again. With those words of wisdom and a proper summer holiday under his belt as well as the arrival of a second baby girl, Sinclair seems revitalised.

Rodgers says he’s ready to regain the heights of year one and the attacker shares the optimism as he said: “It’s funny because when people speak about me they say I had a bad season but I was the club’s top goalscorer.

“If I’d scored 10 goals the first season they would have been saying it was my best season. “On a personal level it’s really nice just to get back to how I was when I first came and I feel like that. I feel sharp, I feel great going into games and I want to get back to that form.

“The level I set was so high and with getting Player of the Year, I then tried to replicate that game after game. You want to keep the standard and that’s the pressure I’ve put on myself.

“Every single game everyone expects two or three goals or me to get man of the match but it is not always going to be the case.

“As long as I’m giving 100 per cent I will get back to that level to show the fans the excitement of me playing again.”

Sinclair spoke of the Rodgers conversation last May as he said: “He just told me to keep