Matija Sarkic will be hoping to return to Aston Villa from a loan spell at Livingston to fight for a place in Dean Smith’s Premier League plans.
It’s not often you find yourself on the wrong end of a 4-0 scoreline and come out of it with your reputation enhanced. But that is exactly the situation Matija Sarkic finds himself in today with the Aston Villa loanee doing his level best to prevent Livingston’s 4-0 defeat at Celtic from becoming something truly humiliating.
Neil Lennon’s in-form Hoops were at their ruthless best when Livi came to town, taking brutal revenge on Gary Holt’s side with that shock 2-0 defeat at the Tony Macaroni Arena in October still fresh in the minds.
Sarkic kept a clean sheet and even grabbed an assist that day, although there was no repeat of either as Odsonne Edouard, Scott Brown and a pair of James Forrest finishes kept Celtic top of the table.
But, thanks to the on-loan Aston Villa youngster, Livingston escaped Parkhead without their goal difference taking a real battering.
There was nothing Sarkic, who was recently rewarded with a first ever call up for Montenegro national team, could do about any of Celtic’s goals. In fact, Forrest’s first of the day only arrived after Sarkic had made a brilliant reflex stop which, unfortunately for the young glovesman, rebounded straight into the path of the Scotland star.
He did manage to keep the usually irrepressible Ryan Christie off the score sheet, however, tipping his swerving drive over the bar in the second half.
And with Aston Villa’s goalkeeping situation coming under the spotlight thanks to injuries to both Tom Heaton and Jed Steer, Sarkic’s fine display north of the border will not have gone unnoticed at Bodymoor Heath.
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