JOE HART is an inspirational figure to his Celtic teammates, and he proved it with his bravery in the thumping of Dundee United, according to Ange Postecoglou.
Hart made a fine early save at Tannadice after Celtic had started the match a little sloppily, and earned a nasty gash on his head as he dived at the feet of United forward Steven Fletcher to deny him from the rebound.
The Celtic manager was full of praise for his keeper in setting the tone for his team, not only with the save, but in his courage to play on after receiving several staples in his head wound.
“We talk about that a lot, people setting standards, for themselves but more importantly, for the group,” Postecoglou said.
“We were a little bit sloppy with some our passing early in the game at Tannadice and it would have been very easy in that situation to maybe concede a goal.
“It wouldn’t necessarily change the outcome of the game, but why give the opposition any sort of opportunity to hurt us?
“Joe was really sharp making a great save, and then showed great bravery to dive at the feet of Steven Fletcher and keep the ball out of the net.
“When guys see that, they take inspiration, because that is the standard set.
“It doesn’t matter who we are playing against or the circumstances of the game, we want to be the best we can be in every moment, and he had the courage to play on with a pretty nasty gash to his head.
“There was never any sort of talk about him coming off, he wanted to just get on with the game.”
