The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Former Dee star bids to cement Celtic No 1 role
Scott Bain admits this season has been “strange” as he looks to cement his place as Celtic’s number one keeper.
The 29-year-old former Dundee stopper, who initially signed on loan in January 2018, fell out of the picture last season when on-loan Fraser Forster dominated the position with Craig Gordon also in the squad.
When both Forster and Gordon left in the summer, Celtic signed Greece international Vasilis Barkas from AEK Athens for a reported fee of around £5 million but his lack of form saw him replaced by Bain with Conor Hazard breaking through before the end of the year.
All three keepers have been used this year but Bain was reinstated as number one by boss Neil Lennon against Hamilton last week – his first appearance since November – and kept his place for the 2-1 defeat by St Mirren on Saturday.
Asked to sum up his season so far as he prepared for the trip to Kilmarnock tonight, Bain said: “Strange, it has been a strange one, difficult, I have been out and I have been in, out the squad again and back in again.
“It has been a strange one but I have tried to keep going, training every day and keep my motivation high, keep my confidence as high as I possibly can through my own actions at
training every day. Hopefully I can get a run of games put together and help build my confidence going forward.
“It was difficult last year as well.
“But I always come into training every day with a smile on my face and try to work hard and keep my attitude right, as hard as it can be, as low as you can get, but I feel that maybe the fact that I have kept working hard and kept my attitude right the whole time has led me to getting back in the team.”
Hoops boss Neil Lennon, meanwhile, appealed to Celtic players’ professional pride ahead of the trip to Rugby Park.
The Northern Irishman described Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by St Mirren at
Parkhead as the “lowest” point of his two spells as Hoops boss.
The reigning champions have one win in six and are 23 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers, having played two games fewer, and with the aim of a 10th successive title looking to be over.
The former Celtic captain insists his players can do better.
He said: “You’ve got to have your professional pride so I am hoping for a reaction tomorrow evening.
“To lose games is bitterly disappointing, and off the back of a really good performance last Wednesday (against Hamilton) we failed to show consistency of performance again.
“They have it in them, there is plenty of evidence of that, they just need to find a rhythm of playing well and winning games.
“You express disappointment at the level of performance and players have to look at themselves and say, ‘can I play better, can I get myself in better condition, can I do more for the team, can I do more for the club, can I do more for the manager?’ And the answer is yes.”
After the sacking of Alex Dyer, Killie’s head of football operations James Fowler has been installed as joint caretaker boss along with coach Andy Millen and captain Gary Dicker and will be in charge for tonight’s clash.