KRIS AYER praised skipper Scott Brown for the inspiration he always provides and for his recently acquired knack of scoring goals that has surprised, amused and even delighted his teammates. What an afternoon it was at Rugby Park yesterday!
Celtic Fans filled both stands behind the goals and roared the team on all afternoon knowing that we’d lost on our previous two visits to Rugby Park but also that a win would propel us towards 8 in a row, almost out of sight to our nearest rivals who would slip to 8 points in arrears – co-incidentally exactly the same points difference as this time last year.
‘Progress? What progress Stevie? You haven’t made any!’ was the message Celtic Fans were reminding the Ibrox support last night. ‘You’re going nowhere – fast’
Kris Ayer was more concerned about talking about Celtic’s win in his post match interview.
“There is an extremely long way to go but it is games like this that are so important with the goals we have,” the Norwegian defender said after playing his part in Celtic’s significant 1-0 win at Kilmarnock yesterday.
“So it was really good to get the win. We have another big match in Spain on Thursday and then Motherwell in the league.
“The big games keep on coming now. We can’t afford to look back. To be fair to Kilmarnock, they made it really difficult for us, as we expected as they are a very strong side.
“It’s always difficult to go to Rugby Park so it was pleasing to leave with three points. To get another clean sheet was also very good for us.
“When you play so many games in the league you need to focus on yourselves. We knew it was an opportunity to get another three points and we were delighted to get them.
“We’ve not been happy with the performances in the last few games at Rugby Park. But you have to respect Kilmarnock for that as well. They have been fantastic this season and this is one of the toughest away games in the league,” Ayer continued.
“We showed determination and that’s how it needs to be at places like Rugby Park. They will fight and try to win every second ball so if you’re not up for it you will lose.
“You need to fight first and then hope your quality comes through. I think we created enough chances and thankfully we came up with the winner.”
Ajer was asked about his skipper Scott Brown who grabbed the dramatic late winner to set off epic scenes of celebrations – a bigger problem when it is Celtic supporters who are involved it seems. And while the coin hitting the arm of Kris Boyd – who didn’t to notice should be condemned, the coverage from the same broadcaster was significantly different to when Leigh Griffiths held up a large battery thrown at him at Ibrox, an incident that Sky ignored.
The 20 year old Norwegian was asked about the message Scott Brown gave to his team-mates in the Huddle before the game.
“What Broony says in the huddle stays in the huddle!” he replied. “But obviously we went into the game really into it and wanting to get the three points.
“He was speaking all about the performance and getting the result. That’s Broony scored twice in a week now. He’s delighted with that but he’s such an important player for us.
“To score the winner like that was just like him. He was on a yellow card so when the supporters come on to the pitch to celebrate with him you know there’s the rule.
“There can be no complaint about that at all but in the heat of the game you are just extremely happy to score the goal.
“There’s no better feeling in football than to win in the last minute. It makes it even more special when you are pushing hard to get the win.”
Timo Weah meanwhile deleted the controversial but refreshingly honest Instagram post he made last night when he explained the reason for his anger at the final whistle. The young American star, on loan from PSG, spoke of being targeted from the moment he came off the bench by THREE Kilmarnock players and this included them taking ‘cheap shots’ at Weah and indulging in ‘trash talk’ – we reported on this last night on The Celtic Star and you can read the rather sensational story HERE.
Also on The Celtic Star…
‘Bobby Madden had a good game, he got the big decisions right,’ David Potter
This is How it Feels! Watch Ecstatic supporters on Celtic Fans TV
Watch a delighted Brendan Rodgers after thrilling win against Kilmarnock
The Sweetest Thing! Jonny Hayes enjoyed today more than the 5-1 thrashing in December
Timo Weah got booked but Zombie bound Jordan Jones’ pushes go unpunished by Madden
Broony’s Beautiful Sunday as Brendan says ‘we were brilliant today’
Celtic 8 clear thanks to Broony’s high, wild and wonderfully deflected winner off a Kille arm
