The 18-year-old striker moved way ahead of schedule when the club’s injury and covid issues led to him replacing the stricken Kyogo Furuhashi 15 minutes into the 3-1 win for Ange Postecoglou’s men away to St Johnstone on Boxing Day. But now that has happened, the forward has redrawn entirely his footballing parameters.
“When I signed my main aim was making myself the No 1 striker for the B team, playing well and scoring goals, and for then to see what happened. I wasn’t really expecting any chances with the first team, I was just focusing on the B team,” Dawson said. “Now it’s come I want more. I want to keep pushing and I want to keep fighting for my place, whether it’s in the B team or the first team. It felt unbelievable. To go from playing at East Kilbride on Wednesday to playing for the first team on Sunday was a big jump, but that just proves you’ve got to be ready in football and take your chance when you get it. It was a surprise, to be honest. Obviously it has been a tough few days for the lads with covid cases, injuries, etc. But, like I said, you’ve got to be ready. When the manager called me down [to go on] it was just pure excitement and elation.”
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Hide AdIt made up for the pre-game isolation period forced on Dawson by his shock call-up. “I found out last Thursday that I might not get to go home for Christmas. Tommy [McIntyre, Celtic B manager] rang me and said: ‘The first team might need you’. It was a bittersweet moment, but obviously it was all worth it,” the teenager said. “I went into training on Christmas day, but I spent the rest of it by myself. But Sunday made it all worth it without a doubt. I would do it for the next 15, 20 Christmases if I had to, if it meant feelings like I had on Sunday. [If I hadn’t been in Perth] I would have been at home spending time with the family, but it is not a bad way to spend Boxing Day is it? Coming on and making my Celtic debut? You couldn’t ask for any more.”
Well, not quite. A deft chip late on looked like it would allow him to cap his debut with a goal, only for Callum Booth to produce a goalline clearance – “I am not going to lie to you, I was absolutely devastated when the lad’s played it off the line,” Dawson said – while pandemic restrictions meant no Celtic fans were in the ground to see him take his first senior steps in the club colours. “I said that before the game: ‘How good would it have been if there had been so many Celtic fans there?’ I have experienced it first hand. I have never seen fans like them. They are unbelievable. It would have been even better to play in front of them. But there was a little pocketful up there [with the club ofFicials] so it was good to get them in.”