Kilmarnock 0-2 Celtic

A young Celtic side marshalled well by Scott Brown and Kieran Tierney worked hard to triumph by 2 goals at Rugby Park.

With a view to our congested fixture list and the trip to Kazakhstan for the return leg of our Champions League decider, Rodgers rang the changes for this mornings trip to Ayrshire.

Forrest was once more given the nod to lead the line but this would be a youthful Celtic team with a backline of teenagers of varying experience. Ajer, Ralston and Miller given the chance to impress and stake their claim alongside the inexperienced Benyu on the wing.

In the engine room Rodgers went with experience as Scott Brown, Stuart Armstrong, Callum McGregor and Tom Rogic formed the rest of the midfield.

This performance, although produced by a very different lineup had all the hallmarks of our showings this season. Complete domination of possession, ball retention was superb, although I did feel we did not look to threaten their defence as much as we should have.

Tom Rogic looked Celtics most threatening and direct player with his dancing feet and gliding runs adding bite to the Celtic possession. It was his inspiration that led to the opening goal as he drove past his defender on the left hand side of the box and showed his composure to pull the ball back for Forrest to slot and low shot past the goalkeeper.

Whilst Forrest did score, I think it is obvious that we struggle to fashion openings with him as our central striker. So many times he would show for the ball in deep areas and yet when the cross would come in you would wonder where our attackers were.

On a positive note I was impressed with Calvin Miller who made a number of threatening runs from fullback, he looked quick, tidy with his passing for the most part and would participate in an excellent move down the left hand side where he was unlucky not to get a better contact on the ball inside the penalty box.

Ajer looked strong at centre back, he competed well with Boyd, kept him out of the game for the most part and was positive with his passing, always looking to bring the ball forward.

Ralston was less involved I feel but this would also be another valuable 90 minutes experience for him in a competitive environment.

Benyu was an interesting one for me- he had moments where his link up play was good, a passage of link up play in the second half with a number of one-twos a particular highlight. That said I was surprised that he didn't try to take on his man with some pace more.

The best player on the park for me was big Tam, his moments of quality were what ultimately settled this game in favour of the Hoops. A driving run on the break allowed Tam to slip the ball in to an area vacated by both Griffiths and McGregor, the former allowing the latter to run on to it and cooly pass the ball low past the keeper to settle the game.

It was a game that Celtic had dominated and deserved to win but I'll admit to suffering from nerves in the last 10 minutes. Bitton would come on for Tierney and Griffiths would go up top to try and grab a goal but for the most part chances were at a premium in this game.

My big take away from this game is 2 things mainly.

1. Our composure under pressure has improved remarkably- I felt like that second half against Astana and even today, despite the nerves, Killie were not given a sniff of a comeback. As much as I would have loved an earlier 2nd goal, the way we controlled the game meant and equaliser would have been an injustice.

2. The technical level of the players who come in to the team is great. Miller, Ajer and to a certain degree Ralston- despite being so young they all look well versed in our brand of football. Technically very good players, albeit maybe not at the level of our regulars but they look to have the right attributes for what we want to do on the park.

Another 3 points from an away day has got to be a feather in the cap. Its a long way from a time when our first XI would come to Rugby Park and slog their guts out for a 1-0