Scott a relief
Scott Sinclair was a relieved man after scoring his first league goal of the season to defeat Aberdeen.
Scott Sinclair’s anger helped Celtic make an ominous-looking move up into fourth place in the Premiership last night.
The Englishman struck his first home league goal since December to earn the Hoops victory and, he hopes, draw a line under his own recent struggles which have seen him make just two starts this season.
“It was a big relief, for me personally and obviously for the team. You could see that from my celebration,” he said of the Neil Lennon-plane style revelry which followed his audacious back-heeled finish.
“It means a lot, and I think when you haven’t scored here for what feels like forever, the emotion and the anger built up not playing and being in and out.
“At the same time, it’s relief and getting that goal feeling back means a lot.
“Hopefully, now I can build on it going into the next game and go from there.
“Being on the bench so much has been frustrating.
“From being Player of the Year in the first season, top goalscorer in the second year (with 18 goals) to being on the bench – and sometimes not making an impact – is frustrating.
“It makes you angry.” Sinclair was only on the pitch as a replacement for Odsonne Edouard, the Frenchman wiped out by a foul from Dons defender Scott Mckenna just outside the box that referee Bobby Madden chose to let go.
“I didn’t think it was a penalty but I thought it was a free-kick,” said Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers of the incident.
He hopes the striker will be fit for Thursday’s Europa League tie with Salzburg.
“If you are talking about reckless challenges, then when young Scott jumps as high as he did and takes his opponent as high as he does, then I think the very minimum is a free-kick.
“It gave Odsonne a dead leg, which meant he couldn’t carry on.”
Sinclair’s substitution was the key moment in a game low on goalmouth incident.
Edouard hit the post for Celtic while he was on, and at the other end, Leigh Griffiths cleared James Wilson’s effort off his goalline, and Craig Gordon denied Gary Mackaysteven at the end of a terrific run. But not too much else happened. In fact, more noteworthy was the bizarre moment which followed an Aberdeen substitution when Max Lowe passed a note from Dons boss Derek Mcinnes to his skipper, Graeme Shinnie.
Hoops skipper Scott Brown spotted the action and stole it away, running to the sideline to pass it over to his manager, Brendan Rodgers!
He smiled and threw it straight into his dugout without reading it. The Aberdeen manager later commented: “I could say something. He ran straight to his manager, didn’t he? Like all good wee boys do.
“It wasn’t anything complicated though.”
Of more concern to the visiting manager was the Scotland claim of his on-form winger, Gary Mackaysteven, ahead of tomorrow’s announcement of the squads for the Nations League games against Israel and Portugal.
“I’m not here to tell Alex Mcleish his job,” said Mcinnes.
“He has a lot of good players, but I do think Gary is worth a place. “He could handle the environment, no problem.
“Alex usually plays with wingbacks rather than out-and-out wingers, but Gary is someone who can make the difference in tight matches.
“He won’t beat his man every time, but he has enough good moments in the game to be a positive.”
Mcleish wasn’t at the game, choosing instead to monitor Scott Mctominay in the West Hammanchester United game.
Should he see TV footage of the game at Celtic Park, he could hardly fail to have been impressed by Mackay-steven. Mckenna’s performance would certainly have given him cause to smile, as would that of Kieran Tierney, who was at his combative best.
All, though, were outshone by players from outwith the country, namely Englishman Sinclair and Dedryck Boyata, who would absolutely be the answer to Scotland’s central defensive issue had he been born here.