THERE was, those who have spent the past seven days berating the performance of John Beaton seem to have forgotten, at least one refereeing decision at Ibrox last week which gave Celtic cause to celebrate.
The match official’s refusal to give the visitors a penalty following the Connor Goldson hand ball incident in the second-half might have led to all kinds of outlandish accusations being made in the aftermath.
But when Beaton awarded the Parkhead club a free-kick late on after Cameron Carter-Vickers had muscled Rangers substitute Scott Wright off the ball just outside his area, the powerfully-built centre half was unable to disguise his delight.
He realised how important the call was at that stage in proceedings and punched the air with two clenched fists almost as if he had – as had been the case on his previous visit to the Govan ground nine months earlier - scored the winner.
“I enjoyed the moment,” he said with a sheepish smile at the weekend. “If I was to look back on it now I would probably cringe a little bit. But at the time I was pumped.
“Every player wants to play in the big games and going away to Ibrox was definitely one of them. I was up for it. It was important that we didn’t lose the game. We would have liked to have won it and would probably have liked to have performed a bit better. But all in all it was probably a big point.”
Carter-Vickers is optimistic that he and his team mates will have many more reasons to rejoice during the remainder of the season.
The defender helped Ange Postecoglou’s team to get back to winning ways on Saturday with a 2-0 triumph over Kilmarnock – who they will play again at Hampden in the Viaplay Cup semi-final this weekend - in the cinch Premiership.
Callum McGregor and his team mates wore down the stubborn resistance of their ultra-defensive rivals - who played with five at the back and three deep-lying midfielders just in front of them when they were out of possession – and forged two in front early in the second-half thanks to a Jota strike and an Ash Taylor own goal.
The final scoreline would have been far greater had it not been for opposition goalkeeper Sam Walker, who pulled off several excellent saves, and the woodwork, which they struck on no fewer than four occasions during a second-half which they dominated.
Carter-Vickers was unsurprised that Celtic put their below par derby display firmly behind them – he feels the options that Postecoglou now has in every position following the recent arrivals of Tomoki Iwata, Yuki Kobayashi and Alistair Johnston will ensure they maintain their high standards in the coming months.
“At a club like Celtic or any big club there is always competition for places and I think this squad kind of thrives off that,” he said. “It helps us to improve as a collective.
“I don’t take my place for granted, I don’t think anyone can. When you are at a club of this size you have always got to be performing well to keep your place. That is what all of the players are concentrated on.
“For us, we always focus on our performance. That is our motivation – we always want to better our performance from the last game no matter how well we have played in the game before. That keeps us winning games, keeps us going.”
Carter-Vickers, who played for the United States in their 1-0 win over Iran in the World Cup in Qatar last month, has had no difficulty slotting back into the Celtic side and performing at a high level consistently since returning to Scotland.
He is convinced that Alistair Johnston, Daizen Maeda and Aaron Mooy, who represented Canada, Japan and Australia respectively, have all had their self-belief boosted by their involvement in the Middle East as well.
“It hasn’t been difficult coming back in to be honest,” he said. “That was always going to be the case. We have been aware that we would be coming back in for a long time. It wasn’t something that was a surprise. I was always confident I would handle it okay.
“In general, I am fairly confident. That has never really been an issue for me. You can see with some of the players that off the back of a good World Cup they have come back confident.
“I think Daizen and Aaron have been fantastic. But, to be fair, the whole team has since the break. We have had six games, have won five of them and drawn one of them and have had decent performances in all of them.”
Alexandro Bernabei and Johnston played at full-back at the weekend in the absence of Josip Juranovic, who was once again rested, and Greg Taylor, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury. Carter-Vickers has been impressed with how well the pair have integrated into the side and expects them go from strength to strength with game time.
“As a team you always want to help everyone and push the team along that way,” he said. “But Alistair has been here for maybe a month now and Berna has been here since the beginning of the season.
“They are both good players and they know our system and when they do play they generally play well. I think if you look at everyone in the team, the majority of us have improved since we have been here. So I can’t see why it would be any different with Alistair.”
Carter-Vickers is hopeful there is more to come from both him and Celtic this season and is determined to help the Parkhead club beat Kilmarnock at Hampden this Saturday and move a step closer to a successful defence of their League Cup trophy - and a potential treble.
“I feel good,” he said. “For me, it is always about being fully concentrated for 90 minutes and just keeping on trying to play well.”
