Falkirk head to Celtic Park on Friday night for their Premier Sports Cup tie, with one Bairns star relishing the chance to go up against an old friend and former teammate.
Aidan Nesbitt, who grew up alongside Kieran Tierney in Celtic’s youth system, was full of praise for the Scotland international ahead of the meeting under the lights at Parkhead.
He was a player that many fans had an eye on as he rose through the ranks at Celtic Park. The now Falkirk star scored the winning goal in the Glasgow Cup in 2014, had many standout performances and call-ups to the Scotland youth squads, before winning academy player of the year in 2016. It didn’t quite work out at Celtic, sealing an exit to MK Dons.
“As Celtic fans you want the best players to play for the club,” he said to SunSport. “Since Kieran broke through when he was 18 – ten years ago – there haven’t been many better left-backs in the UK than him. So as Celtic fans we were absolutely delighted to see him back.
“Growing up with him and coming through all the years with him, it was good to see one of your own going and doing so well. He’s played at the top level and he’s a fantastic player.
“I’ve got one job tomorrow night and so does everybody in the Falkirk team. It doesn’t matter how good he is, it doesn’t matter how good Callum McGregor is or how good Reo Hatate is. We’re all on the same pitch doing the same jobs. You just need to trust in yourself and go and try and beat them.”
Brendan Rodgers has been really pleased with the left-back since he returned to Celtic. It’s all about managing minutes for the player, who is still getting back up to speed after not playing regularly over the past couple of years.
He’s started both of Celtic’s league games so far this season, coming off in about the hour mark in both – once with cramp and another with a sickness bug.
Brendan Rodgers said on Thursday, “I just think that’s going to be time and I just want to take it steady with him because he’s full on in training, his mentality’s unbelievable. It’s also considering that he hasn’t played a lot over the last couple of years.
“So then just throwing him into every single game for 90 minutes, that’s not really going to work for us. But I’ve been so pleased with how he has come in, how he’s settled and he’s getting between 60 and 70 minutes and just working his fitness level.
“He understands it now. He’s obviously got a great maturity to him now and has probably sensed maybe he’s been his own worst enemy as it were, because he is so committed and he is so full on.
“But you can see his maturity as an experienced player now, that in those moments where you do maybe, you know, if you’re doing six exercises and you’re taking him out of the last one, then he understands it much better now. Even though he’s inherently a guy that gives everything and it’s never 80% or 70%, it’s 100% always. But I’ve been so pleased to have him back and he’s showed up really well.”
