Yesterday saw Celtic B team striker Joey Dawson make his first team debut after signing for the club in the summer. The youngster arrived from Scunthorpe United and the plan was initially for him to ply his trade and gain experience with Tommy McIntyre’s B team in the Lowland League but due to multiple injuries and Covid withdrawals yesterday afternoon, the young Englishman got his opportunity with Ange Postecoglou’s first team much earlier than he could have dreamed of.
Being named on the bench would have been an exciting experience for the forward, but his day was about to become even more memorable when our only available striker Kyogo had to be withdrawn early in the match due to injury and Dawson was called upon to replace him.
Speaking about making his debut on the celticfc website, he said: “It’s unbelievable and such a proud moment for me and my family. I’ve come a long way in a short space of time, so I just need to stay grounded and keep working hard to hopefully get more appearances.
“It’s massive for me making my Celtic debut at such a young age, it’s a great honour but now I need to keep working hard. Honestly, I probably didn’t think the debut would come this season, but in football, anything can happen.
“So that’s why I always have to be ready to take my chance and hopefully I did that today.”
It was a promising debut for the B team star who showed a lot of nice touches and held the ball up well at times, and it almost had the perfect ending when he dinked the St Johnstone goalkeeper late in the game but unfortunately the effort was cleared off the line at the last moment by a backtracking defender.
Talking about coming so close to scoring his first goal for the first team, Dawson said “I was devastated it didn’t go in. I don’t know how he got there to be fair. After I dinked the keeper I thought it was in and I had my debut goal but they’ve just stretched to keep it off the line.’
“Me scoring isn’t the main thing, the most important thing is the win. Having a taste of it today has just made me want more and hopefully I can keep working hard and score more goals.”
Dawson’s father, Andy Dawson, is a former player, caretaker-manager and first-team coach at Scunthorpe United, the team Celtic picked him up from in the summer. His uncle Michael Dawson may be even more recognisable to many Celtic fans as a former Premier League player and England international.
Working as a pundit covering the game on skysports news, Michael Dawson spoke about his nephew coming on to replace Kyogo, he said: “Here he is, debut. Big centre-forward – I bet he’ll score more than me!
“Proud moment for him. His mum and dad will be watching. He would have been at Spurs today, going down to watch them. How the Christmas period has changed for them. Proud, proud moment for him.”
Conall McGinty
Joey Dawson 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 🗣️ "Honestly, I probably didn’t think the debut would come this season, but in football, anything can happen."👏https://t.co/Oo9GlSXzb9
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) December 27, 2021
TWICE AS GOOD
Thanks to everyone who ordered Harry Hood – Twice as Good for Christmas presents. If you got an Ange jumper instead then why not order this brilliant book by Matt Corr, or indeed David Potter’s biography of another Celtic legend Alec McNair – born on this day incidentally – from Celtic Star Books or from the official Celtic stores?
