Retour
Kasper Høgh was among the first to congratulate Callum Osmand at half-time against Hearts, despite losing his place in Celtic’s starting line-up.
BBC’s Kenny MacIntyre spotted the Danish striker celebrating with his teammate in the tunnel after Osmand scored twice on his first professional start.
Martin O’Neill’s decision to change his attack paid off emphatically, with Celtic heading into the interval 5-1 ahead before completing a 7-1 victory.
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For Høgh, watching his teammates score freely while he started on the bench could have been difficult.
However, MacIntyre was encouraged by the forward’s response.
Speaking on BBC Sportsound, he said:
“Yeah, one thing I did like, because we spoke about Kasper, who had been dropped today, a big price tag and him a big reputation, how a player responds, I guess is a big thing.
“I watched him; he was right at the heart of the tunnel at half-time congratulating Callum Osmond, big high-fives, big smiles. So you’d like to think he’s responded very, very well that he did come on in the second half.”
Høgh eventually came off the bench and contributed to Celtic’s final goal, supplying the pass for Benjamin Nygren to score his second of the afternoon.
He remains without a goal since his first-half hat-trick against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, but that assist gave him something positive to take from his appearance.
Osmand’s double and Camilo Duran’s performance through the middle have increased the competition for attacking places.
That is exactly what Celtic need, even if it leaves Høgh with work to do to regain his starting position.
His reaction at half-time was encouraging. Despite his own frustrations in front of goal, he was visibly pleased for a teammate enjoying a breakthrough afternoon.
The next step is to turn that attitude into the goals both he and Celtic have been waiting for.