Liam Scales has offered an insight into Celtic’s continued work from set pieces after scoring the goal which secured Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Kilmarnock.

The defender struck after 26 minutes at Celtic Park, stretching to meet Camilo Durán’s delivery after the Hoops had kept a corner alive.

It was Scales’ third goal of the season and another moment which put Celtic’s work from dead-ball situations into focus.

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Grant arrived from Hearts in June with a particular focus on set-piece analysis and coaching.

His appointment came after a season in which Hearts scored 23 Premiership goals from set plays, compared with Celtic’s 10.

There have already been signs of his influence.

Auston Trusty scored from a worked corner against Dundee United in the Premier Sports Cup earlier this season, while Celtic struck twice from corners during the 7-1 victory over Grant’s former club Hearts in October.

FotMob currently records Celtic as having scored five times from set pieces in the Premiership this season.

Speaking after the Kilmarnock victory, Scales confirmed the work being done behind the scenes.

He said: (Celtic FC YouTube), “No, not really. That’s just a bonus, I’d be more interested in clean sheets.

“It’s nice, I think we’ve done a lot of work on set pieces and different things. Maybe we’re putting the ball in the box a little bit more rather than going short.

“You always get a bit excited as a centre-half going up for a corner, so it’s nice to score.

“Hopefully I get a couple more now before the end of the season.”

The reference to putting the ball into the penalty area more often is particularly interesting.

Celtic have traditionally taken plenty of short corners in an attempt to retain possession and create a better crossing angle.

Scales’ comments suggest there is now greater willingness to put defenders such as himself and Cameron Carter-Vickers under the ball and make opponents defend their box.

His own record shows why.

Scales also headed home from a Benjamin Nygren corner against St Mirren in September, while he was involved in Celtic’s first set-piece goal against Hearts when his near-post flick found Kieran Tierney.

That second phase is another part of making corners count.

Celtic are not suddenly dominating the league’s set-piece numbers. Five Premiership goals shows there remains plenty of room for Grant and the players to improve.

But compared with an area that produced only 10 league goals across the whole of last season, there is now a specialist coach working on it every week and players openly talking about changes to how Celtic attack those situations.

Against Kilmarnock, one of those situations ultimately provided the only goal Celtic needed.

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