Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou paid tribute to Alistair Johnston after the defender held his own against Rangers’ Ryan Kent during Monday’s 2-2 Old Firm derby draw at Ibrox, speaking to STV.
In his first competitive outing since Canada took on Morocco at the Qatar World Cup, the £3 million signing from MLS outfit Montreal Impact certainly made, well, an ‘impact’ on his green-and-white debut.
Johnston was typically aggressive and occasionally adventurous as the Premiership title rivals played out a four-goal thriller on the blue side of Glasgow. He needed to be as well, with Kent producing one of his most threatening displays of recent times.
Celtic and Rangers draw 2-2 in Old Firm thriller as Ryan Kent hits screamer
“I thought he was good. It’s a difficult game to throw him into. Not only is it a derby, it’s away from home,” Postecoglou said at full-time, the eventual scoreline ensuring that Celtic retain their nine point lead in top spot.
“We all knew it was a big game for a number of reasons. For the most part, he handled himself really well. He was solid defensively, up against a very good player in Ryan Kent.
“But there is more to come from him. Especially in an attacking sense, once he gets to understand our games. He won’t get a sterner test than that as a Celtic player. He came through it really well.”
The more critical members of the Celtic fanbase may point out, of course, that Johnston could have got that little bit closer to Kent as Rangers’ number 14 cancelled out Daizen Maeda’s early opener mere moments into the second half.
Kent, lively on the left, cut inside and whipped a stunning shot into the top corner. A ‘sublime’ moment of game-changing brilliance Gers legend Ally McCoist labelled ‘magnificent’ during his Sky Sports commentary duties.
James Tavernier’s penalty then completed a quickfire turnaround, before Kyogo Furuhashi snatched a point with 88 minutes on the clock.
Celtic stay nine points clear at the top of the Premiership
“It was a cracking game of football. A good derby,” Postecoglou adds. “Both teams were going at it.
“We started the game really well and then just lost our way a little bit, the last 10-15 minutes of the first half we were giving the ball away unnecessarily, uncharacteristically for us, without a great deal of pressure.
“That allowed them to get that little bit of belief and obviously they came out at the start of the second half really strong.
“We struggled to get to grips with the game but again when it was required the players found the will and character to get the goal to get us a result.”
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