Injury dampens David’s cup win

Wishaw’s DavidTurnbull lifted the Premier Sports League Cup with Celtic on Sunday but helping the Hoops claim the first silverware of the season came at a cost in a 2-1 win over Hibs.

The 22-year-old pulled his hamstring in the first half of the contest at Hampden with the score locked level at 0-0 and he was replaced by Nir Biton in 27 minutes.

Turnbull watched from the bench as his side fell behind to Paul Hanlon’s effort in 51 minutes, but Celtic provided an instant response to equalise through Kyogo Furuhashi before the Japanese star won it his second goal of the game - an outstanding lob from the edge of the box - in the 72nd minute.

Former Coltness High School pupilTurnbull was able to join in the celebrations with his team-mates at full-time, but the severity of the injury is unknown at this stage.

After the match Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou revealedTurnbull was the victim of fatigue, having made 37 appearances so far this season.

Postecoglou said:“David suffered from the amount of games we are playing at the moment.We are suffering because of that.

“We have not been able to rotate the squad a lot and that is hurting us at the moment, picking up these injuries.

“We will just see how he is.”

Sunday’s trophy win is the second piece of silverwareTurnbull has lifted since his move from Motherwell last year, having won the Scottish Cup in the 2019/20 campaign.

Motherwell chief executive Alan Burrows took toTwitter to express his concern for their former player after his injury, saying:“Gutted for DT. Hope it’s not too serious.”

In response to a question about the amount of games players face, he added:“Far too much. We need to have a serious discussion about the calendar and the amount of domestic fixtures we have.The 2024-2027 European cycle will likely force a debate regardless, but we should expedite that imo [in my opinion].”