Morgan heading in right direction in bid to stake a claim

THE execution was not quite as he had envisaged but Lewis Morgan is happy and relieved to have finally scored his first goal for Celtic. A full 19 months since he first put pen to paper, Morgan put the gloss on the 4-1 victory over AIK with a back-post header — a career first, no less — at the Friends Arena. A Brendan Rodgers purchase from St Mirren, Morgan regularly displayed an eye for the spectacular in Paisley but his limited game time with the champions has seen him fall into a hardrunning groove on the flank. While Ryan Christie, James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard have carried the main scoring threat, Morgan acknowledges that he ought to be chipping in to supplement their efforts.

‘I haven’t scored many headers in my career — I don’t even think I’ve scored one in training,’ he said. ‘It’s been a long time coming but hopefully that’s an important one for me.

‘It’s been tough not having got my goal since signing for Celtic. At previous clubs that’s been such a big part of my game, so it’s important to get off the mark. It’s taken longer than I had hoped but, hopefully, this is just the start.

‘Confidence-wise, it’s massive. The motivation to play is always there at this club. The team is doing so well at the moment that as soon as you get your chance, you want to bring something to the side.

‘Now I’ve been lucky enough to get that first goal, hopefully I can use it as a platform.’

Morgan’s stoppage-time effort arrived on the end of a perfect cross from Forrest, a man who has seamlessly carried over last season’s player-of-the-year form into the new campaign and sets a standard to which Morgan aspires.

‘James did the same thing a couple of minutes previously and I probably should have been there,’ said Morgan. ‘A player of his quality, you trust that he is going to put a good ball in. Luckily, he has put it right on my head and I couldn’t really miss.’

After a stop-start opening to his Celtic career that saw loan spells with mentor Jack Ross at St Mirren and Sunderland sandwich a knee injury, Morgan (left) finally feels settled and ready to contribute.

Although he made his first Celtic start in the Europa League against RB Leipzig last season, by then he was already playing catch-up with the rest of his team-mates as he recovered from his injury.

With Forrest and Mikey Johnston in such good form in the wide areas, he will likely start on the bench against Rangers at Ibrox today. But his promotion above the likes of Scott Sinclair and new arrival Marian Shved in the pecking order suggests he will have a prominent role to play under Neil Lennon.

‘We have two or three players for every position, so you have to be at it in training,’ said Morgan. ‘You can’t rest on your laurels here. I am happy the manager has been selecting me and it’s good to have repaid that faith with a goal.

‘The manager highlighted how impressive it was to score four goals away from home in Europe and the team is looking really good.

‘Now we focus on the game at Ibrox. Nothing can be won or lost at this stage in the season but we all know the importance of these games.

‘We have a changing room full of people who have experienced this fixture and there is always a bit of edge.

‘We are coming into the game with confidence high and we are scoring goals. All the boys are in a good place and looking forward to the game.’