Stephen Welsh hopes first goal helps cement place in Celtic team

Stephen Welsh made an indelible mark in Celtic’s 2-1 win over Motherwell at Parkhead on Saturday and now hopes to cement his place in the team.

The 21-year-old defender bulleted in a header from a David Turnbull corner in the second minute to register his first goal for the Hoops.

Striker Odsonne Edouard fired in a second in the 51st minute and the home side were in control until Well midfielder Allan Campbell reduced the deficit in the 66th minute with a shot from the edge of the box.

There was a nervy period of added time for Celtic, with substitute Diego Laxalt clearing off the line, but the points remained in the east end of Glasgow.

And after playing consecutive 90 minutes for Celtic for the first time following his return against Kilmarnock last Tuesday night, Welsh spoke to the club’s YouTube channel about looking at home in the Hoops defence.

“I think it comes with a good run of games,” said the youth team product, who was “buzzing” to get his first Celtic goal.

“That’s two games in a row now, full 90 minutes, and I can only hope for more.

“That breeds confidence, especially with two wins in a row.

“I thought we were excellent in the first half, dominated the game and deserved our two-goal lead, but I thought we made it hard for ourselves with (conceding) a really poor goal.

“But we got there in the end and that is the most important thing.”

After coming close to grabbing a last-gasp leveller, Motherwell boss Graham Alexander will continue to try to instil belief into his squad.

He told the club’s official website: “We don’t just want to go back to what the history books tells us – this is what happened in the past and will continue to happen in the future.

“We want change that if we can as much as possible and the first place to do that is in people’s minds.

“So we are trying to give the players the confidence that every game is an opportunity to win points.

“It is 11 versus 11, and if you do your jobs as diligently as they did on Saturday and show the quality that we undoubtedly have, then you give yourself the best chance to get a result and we went very close.

“We had our opportunities to get something from the game. We didn’t get the result but the performance was good and we have to take that into the coming games.”