Parish not surprised by Celtic swoop

Hendry impressed keeper in short stay at Dens Park

Dundee keeper Elliott Parish admits he was not surprised Jack Hendry secured a big-money move to Celtic as he simply oozed confidence from the first minute he met him.

The big defender left the Dark Blues to join the Hoops on transfer deadline day for a Dundee club record transfer fee of well over £1 million.

The 22-year-old came on as a substitute in the 78th minute of Celtic’s 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Sunday and could win the nod to play against his former side tonight at Parkhead.

But Parish insisted there will be no room for an old pals’ act if he does.

The 27-year-old former Aston Villa, Cardiff and Blackpool stopper said: “Jack did really well for us in the first half of the season.

“He is a fantastic player – everyone knows that. My first impression of him was that he was a really confident lad.

“He just oozed confidence. I think if you are going to go to the top level that’s important.

“As the season went on, everyone could see his improvements and there is still so much more to come from him.

“I wasn’t surprised his move came quickly as he was just getting better and better with every game.

“But he is not a Dundee player any more, so hopefully we can come back to haunt him a little bit.”

Hendry’s rise was nothing short of meteoric considering he had been released by Wigan in the summer before being snapped up by Dundee boss Neil McCann.

Parish added: “It is crazy, but a week in football is a long time, let alone half a season, and things can change so quickly.

“So it is testament to him for working so hard and getting the move with the coaching he has had here.

“He still has a lot to learn but he is a top player.”

Parish admitted he was lured north to Scotland by the chance to play at venues such as Celtic Park.

He has been there before with the Dark Blues back in October as a sub when his side were unlucky not to take something from a game they lost 1-0.

Parish added: “Hopefully it won’t be a busy evening for me if we defend well.

“Instead, we will be looking for a good successful night and we can get the win.

“I think you see sides going there a lot, getting a good shape with men behind the ball, which is important otherwise you are going to get broken down quickly so we definitely have to be solid.

“Concentration for the full 90 minutes is also massive.

“Other sides have got good results there so we just have to go and do the same hopefully.

“I was on the bench for the 1-0 game down there earlier in the season and my perspective of that is we played very well with the ball and without it.

“On another day – and I think we have said this a lot – we could have come away with a bit more.

“We had a couple of chances and if they had gone in, it was a completely different result.

“So we have to take them this time.”