RYAN CHRISTIE absolutely sparkled when he came on at Paisley on Wednesday night and rounded off his night by putting the game to bed with an excellent second goal that takes Celtic to within touching distance of 8IAR.
His return to action, and the great performance he put in will give Neil Lennon plenty to think about as he ponders his team selection for the game against Livingston tomorrow and then, perhaps more importantly against Aberdeen at Hampden in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Christie’s performance at St Mirren is likely to push him into the starting eleven at Hampden.
“I’m delighted to come in and get on the scoresheet again but, of course, more importantly we got the win as a team,” Christie said yesterday to the official site.
“That’s especially true after a game like Sunday. Sometimes it can be hard to come back down from reality and go again. We did that very well against St Mirren, but the most important thing was getting three points.
“The gaffer mentioned that before the game. It can be a cliché, but we’re at the business end of the season and it’s all about getting over the line.
“We take it one game at a time and we’re focused on getting three points every time. There were times against St Mirren where we might have pushed on and got some more goals, but the important thing is scoring, keeping a clean sheet and getting three points.”
Christie, like his manager and indeed the support, are looking to the Scottish Cup semi-final as the biggest game on the horizon and if selected he’ll be facing a side he knows well having spent a season and a half on loan at Pittodrie.
“It’s going to be tough for me to work my way back in, but that’s what I’ve got to do, along with many others. We’ve now got everyone back fighting fit, and games like the one against St Mirren show that we have the strength in depth in the squad.
“There were four changes made to the starting XI from Sunday, and everyone that came in played brilliantly and Timo got his goal as well. There’s a lot of competition for places now, but you’d rather that than lacking bodies going into this time of the season.
“I was just happy to get back out there. I wasn’t out for too long, but it’s nice to get back out and help the team, get a feel for things again. My job is to make an impact in games whenever I get game-time.”
And another advantage of having Christie back in the team is that he can take over the penalty kick duties. Olivier Ntcham missed his on Wednesday and Christie might be about to get the nod from Neil Lennon.
“I’ve only taken one and that was against Hearts at 4-0 up in the last minute, so there wasn’t a lot of pressure on that one!” he said.
“I’m happy to take penalties if called upon.
“To be fair, I’d have put money on Oli scoring against St Mirren, it’s actually a good save. There are plenty of the boys in the squad happy to step up and take a penalty.”
Christie also spoke about the Banger incident after he scored his goal that almost resulted in St Mirren taking their players off the park to abandon the game.
“That was the first thing that went through my head,” Ryan said.
“I thought that if he was seriously injured the game could have been postponed, and then it’s a different ball game altogether.
`’I don’t know how you stop that. Sometimes the longer-term effect that this sort of thing can have isn’t thought about at the time.
“If the fans were to think more about the possible consequences, they wouldn’t be so eager to do stuff like this,” he added.
“Our following at home and away is absolutely brilliant, so I don’t think it’s needed. The noise and the support we take everywhere is loud enough for us to hear it and have an effect.
“I can only speak for myself and I certainly feel safe, but the important thing is that it doesn’t get any worse or continue coming into the game,” Christie said.
“Hopefully it can go the other way and we can stamp it out, because if it keeps getting worse, that’s when the safety of the players does get questioned. Hopefully it can calm down again.”
