Scottish football is an intolerant place for Celtic strikers.
At Ibrox, players get plenty of time to settle in.
The media is forgiving of them if they don’t automatically look up to snuff.
This is not the same as what Celtic strikers face.
Even those who’ve proven themselves at the club get stick if they go even a handful of games without scoring.
As a consequence, I am always glad to see that first goal.
Ajeti arrived here under more pressure than most.
He hadn’t scored a competitive goal since his time at Basel.
His time at West Ham was truly wretched, but as I’ve said previously, that is a dysfunctional football which has chewed up players and managers for years.
The player himself summed it up neatly when he said that it all comes down to trust, and the bond between him and the manager which needs to be strong for him to be at his best. He has that again at Celtic, with Neil Lennon, and we’ve already got the first proof of it.
That was a massive goal for us yesterday. A player who’s gone that long without scoring could easily have slipped into a downward spiral, with rising levels of pressure, which our media would have been delighted to amplify. Now he has his head up again and feels in the mood.
The goals will flow. The weight has been lifted, and he’s feeling the love.
Three points were on the line, but more than that; our judgment in making the signing had already been questioned by some of the bitter Celtic haters who have found jobs in the MSM despite having only a handful of brain cells between them.
One was Boyd. It was glorious to see his wee tripping face at full time yesterday, because he knows how significant that goal was and not just because it got us the win.
As a former striker, he knows all about the restorative power of confidence … and he saw the end of his pitiful dreams that this might be the year, of all years, where we lose our grip on the title.
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