TONY DOCHERTY has revealed how he recently had a heart-to-heart chat with Celtic star Luke McCowan after the midfielder was frozen out at Parkhead.

But the ex-Dundee boss backed his “resilient” former star to fight through his recent slump and break back into Martin O’Neill ‘s plans.

McCowan, 28, failed to even make the matchday squad for the Hoops’ recent back-to-back victories over Motherwell and Hearts.

The playmaker has managed just one start all season and has drifted in and out of the matchday setup throughout the campaign.

After receiving heavy criticism for a poor display in Celtic’s Champions League play-off disaster against LASK, McCowan has played under 90 minutes of total action across the 10 matches since.

With O’Neill favouring Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Oliver Sorensen as options off the bench in recent matches, game time has proven hard to come by.

Yet former mentor Docherty remains convinced it is only a matter of time before the former Dundee standout finds his footing at Celtic Park again.

Speaking on Open Goal, the Scotland Under-21 boss opened up on how watching his former player struggle has been difficult to take.

He said: “I saw him yesterday and we had a good chat. We keep in touch regularly.

“That can be difficult (him going through a difficult spell). I know he’s going through a bit of a tough time at the moment.

“All through his career he’s been resilient and faced adversity so I would back him to get through it.”

Docherty was the man who personally delivered the news to McCowan that his dream move to Glasgow had been greenlit last year.

While reluctant to lose his talisman on the pitch, the coach was thrilled to see him complete a fairytale move to his boyhood club.

Docherty said: “I was actually quite emotional about it. We were in pre-season and we knew about interest from Celtic.

“It was his boyhood dream to play for Celtic.

“We were on fire at the start of the season and Luke was my captain because Joe Shaugnessy had a long-term injury.

“Luke was pivotal for me but I knew he wanted to go.

“The day it happened, I remember we were training and he was really panicky that it wouldn’t happen.

“I then got a phone call during training and after training I brought him into my office and I just shook his hands and said congrats.

“It was quite emotional.

“It was a huge thing for him and to get that relief that it was really happening.

“I missed him personally but for him it was brilliant.”