No Kidding: ‘We Need To Keep Backing IT Up,’ Insists McGREGOR

CALLUM McGREGOR struck a rare goal in Celtic’s 7-1 demolition of Dundee at Parkhead  last night.

But the Hoops captain had to accept he had been upstaged by his interval replacement Daniel Kelly who claimed the strike of the night for his first counter for the champions.

The 18-year-old midfielder brought the house down with a first-time right-foot effort that swept high past the overworked Tayside keeper Trevor Carson for the seventh and final goal in an evening of delight in the storm-lashed east end of Glasgow.

McGregor welcomed Kelly to the party and said: “Over the time I’ve been here, we try and add to the young players coming through the Academy and into the first-team.

“Since he has come up, this guy has been outstanding with a real personality and good quality.

“He wants to learn and work as hard as he possibly can – all those attributes coming from the Academy are so important if you want to have a career here.

“When you come on, you have to take your chance and that’s exactly what he did.

“It’s a brilliant finish with his weaker foot and the challenge is to keep going and want more. The group really love him in the way he trains and plays, so we need more of that for him.”

McGregor whipped in a low left-foot drive deep in stoppage-time to claim the sixth goal as the Hoops went on a first-half rampage that blew their opponents away.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, Adam Idah, Matt O’Riley, Daizen Maeda and Greg Taylor had all planted the ball behind Carson before the influential captain drilled in No.6.

On top of the goals, O’Riley and Luis Palma also struck the crossbar while the keeper had two superb point-blank saves from O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi as the record books beckoned.

Reflecting on a job well done as Celtic prepare for Sunday’s noon kick-off against Hearts at Tynecastle, McGregor, speaking to Celtic TV, continued: “We were really good, especially in the first-half. We had speed on the ball, tempo and everything we wanted.

“There was good penetration when we tried to go in behind and the combination play was excellent.

“It helps when you score the first goal early, but it was a good mentality to stay on it and try and get as many as we could before half-time.

“It was a great team performance and probably the only bit is the goal we concede, but, overall, a very good night.”

The Scotland international anchorman added: “It’s a great win and performance, but we need to keep backing it up.

“There’s not long to go and we focus on each match and recover.

“Everyone will be super important and we need everyone to be bang at it.”