CELTIC BOSS PRAISES STAND-IN STARS

BRENDAN RODGERS praised stand-in keeper Dorus de Vries following his return after more than a year out to help Celtic to a 1-0 home win over Dundee.

With a view to the Champions League trip to Bayern Munich in midweek, Rodgers reshuffled his squad with the 36-year-old Dutchman back for the first time competitively since featuring against Kilmarnock in September, 2016.

Amid seven changes, Costa Rica right-back Cristian Gamboa made his first appearance of the season and Eboue Kouassi returned from a knee injury sustained against Kilmarnock at the start of the campaign.

After French midfielder Olivier Ntcham hit the winner with a long-range drive in the 61st minute, the Tayside outfit hit back and De Vries denied Paul McGowan, Roarie Deacon and Faissal El-Bakhtaoui.

The champions extended their unbeaten domestic run to 59 games and remained top of the Premiership over Aberdeen on goal difference.

Rodgers said: “That was another positive for us. When you think of the players we have out and the players to come in like Eboue Kouassi

“Cristian Gamboa went halfway round the world to play in World Cup qualifiers and came back and I thought he was excellent today.

“And Dorus de Vries, you see in a game like this why I have him in.

“It is a testament to how professional he is, how hard he has worked.

“It is has been a year or so since he last played competitively.

“The last game was Sunderland away in a pre-season friendly where he was excellent and this was a nice game to come into.

“He didn’t have a great deal to do, but towards the end when the ball was coming in around the box, he showed his agility and concentration to make the saves.

“So for all those guys who came in and hadn’t played so much, I thought they did very well.”