Celtic youngster Stephen Welsh backs club's "serial winners" to recover from desperate derby loss

There was only one crumb of comfort for Celtic in their dismal derby defeat.

Celtic's Stephen Welsh can't hide his dejection at the outcome in his first derby appearance. (Photo by Rob Casey / SNS Group)

A second senior appearance for 20-year-old centre-back Stephen Welsh suggested - just as with his first at Hamilton in February - that the Coatbridger has a real chance to make the grade. It must be said that the standard of play from Neil Lennon’s side was so poor it would have been a real issue for Welsh if he had stood-out as failing to match those around him in home colours.

Yet, in a side so patchwork it was about as unified as one of those massive charity quilts, the youngster did well to stitch together a largely error-free afternoon - unlikely his experienced back-three counterparts Shane Duffy and Kristoffer Ajer. Welsh was perhaps guilty of ball watching and remaining too static as Connor Goldson slipped between him and Duffy to be given two opportunities to bundle in his 52nd minute second that resulted in Neil Lennon’s men appearing to give up the ghost. Welsh accepts such a capitulation was unacceptable. He understands the hysteria that has witnessed Steven Gerrard’s men being handed the title for establishing a four-point lead having played a game more than their rivals has to be railed against too.

“It was a big day for me, but all that mattered was to go and win. I’m just gutted we didn’t do it,” he said. “At 1-0 down, this team can score goals. You have the belief that we can score, but we didn’t create as many chances as we would have liked to do. I don’t think their goalkeeper really had a save to make, so that is disappointing and so were the goals we lost. We need to work on that defensively. We were adamant we could not concede from a set piece, so that was really disappointing [to do that in nine minutes].

“But there are serial winners in that changing room. So I have no problem with that. It is still early in the season and it is one result. Anything can change. You saw it last season and have seen in other seasons when we have won all these trophies. Everyone gets beaten. You cannot go through a full season and not lose. It happens. It’s really disappointing, but we have so many big games to come. We just need to bounce back and there is nothing better than a game against AC Milan [in the Europa League on Thursday]. Then there’s the Scottish Cup [against Aberdeen after the trip to Pittdorie next Sunday]. There are so many.”

With Nir Bitton and Hatem Elahamed still recovering from Covid-19 and the club yet to resolve the back issues afflicting Christopher Jullien, Welsh could easily follow-up his derby debut with his first appearance on the European stage. “We’ll see,” he said. “AC Milan is another great test. The Rangers match was only my second game, so to play against AC Milan for my third would be a good test, but you never know until the team gets announced. These are the games you want to be playing in as a kid, so you might as well play in them right from the start and that’s it. It’s experience.” And in football, that can be bittersweet.

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