Stephen McManus: The boys applied themselves really well in tricky conditions

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Celtic F.C.

·14 January 2024

Stephen McManus: The boys applied themselves really well in tricky conditions

Celtic FC B coach Stephen McManus praised his squad for their performance against Edinburgh University as the Bhoys ran out 3-1 wins over their opponents on Saturday afternoon.

Taking on the capital side for the second time this campaign, it could have proved to be a difficult afternoon for the Hoops despite the home side’s position in the table due to the tricky surface for both teams.

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However, the young Celts put in a professional performance to mark their return to winning ways in the Lowland League as goals from Corey Thomson, Ben Quinn and Jude Bonnar helped them to victory.

Speaking after the match, McManus was left happy with the squad’s overall application throughout the 90 minutes in the capital.

Despite taking those positives away from the match, there are still aspects that can be worked on as expected for the Academy side, with the Bhoys passing up plenty of opportunities in the final third.

He said: “The boys applied themselves really well and the performance was very good. We knew it was going to be a difficult game with the conditions of the pitch.

“It was quite heavy for them under foot, but I felt as if the boys navigated it really well.

‘They stuck to the way that we try and play and the performance was very good overall.’

“We spoke to them before the game and just said with our experiences here last year and how we expected the game to go. And it was very similar to that.

“There is always that wee bit that sometimes the boys feel as if they need to rush the pass. Whereas, if they just recognise where the space is then we can find that extra bit of space.

“Again, our quality in the final third was good but there is still a lot of room for improvement. The boys can be a bit more clinical at the top end.

“But it was good to get a couple of the boys on, and also with some of them playing a lot of minutes. So it was encouraging.”

With the busy fixture schedule continuing to ramp up over the Christmas and New Year period, Saturday’s match saw some players earning more minutes in the side, including Andrew Kyle who made just his second appearance for the B Team at left-back.

The youngster followed up his first match for the young Celtic side against Chelsea with another strong performance against Edinburgh University.

McManus was quick to praise the defender for his hard work after making the step up in recent weeks, and he was pleased to see a few faces return to the side after injury.

“Andrew (Kyle) has come up during the Christmas period for us,” he said. “His application and dedication has been great.

“He’s very unassuming as a boy. He comes in, and does his work which is very good. He’s the type of character and person really enjoy working with.

‘He gives it his all every day, goes about his business and works hard. He’s got his reward with a performance against Chelsea.’

“Then we were quite keen to get him in today. So it was good, and we were able to rest a few of the boys like Magnus (Mackenzie), then Bruno (Davidson) is just coming back from injury too.

“It was good to get Jude Bonnar back into the team as well playing in the middle of the park. So there are positives we can take away.”