MONTY IBROX D-DAY

ADAM MONTGOMERY is standing by to make his first Celtic start at Ibrox on Sunday.

The 19-year-old left-back was introduced to the frantic action in Alkmaar last night when Greg Taylor was forced to go off with a shoulder injury in the 24th minute.

Montgomery, who has now made six appearances from the substitutes’ bench, was pitched in while the Dutch side were drawing 1-1 on the night and was only on the pitch two minutes when Carl Starfelt deflected a right-wing cross past Joe Hart to hand the opponents the initiative.

However, Montgomery dug in and played his part as the Hoops held on for a 3-2 aggregate victory to reach today’s Europa League group draw.

Delighted boss Ange Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Mail, said: “I thought Monty was outstanding coming on, a young player, knowing that we’re going to have defend a fair bit of the game.

“We’ll just have to see about Greg. He’s got a shoulder problem, but, as of yet, we don’t know the extent of it.

“Obviously, we’ve got a pretty quick turnaround and we’ll just have to see if he recovers in time.

“We put in a big shift, so it’s going to be about recovery now over the next 24, 48 hours.”

Kyogo Furuhashi, who contributed his seventh goals in his seventh start against the Dutch, took a pummelling against some uncompromising defenders and looked shattered when he was withdrawn from the action with only two minutes left to play.

The Japanese striker looked to be limping as he was replaced by Ismaila Soro as the Hoops battened down the hatches to make sure of an overall victory.

Postecoglou admitted the team’s talisman and instant fans’ hero “got a bit of a knock”, but would wait to see how he progresses with some rest.

ACCOLADES AND ANXIETY IN ALKMAAR AS HOOPS FIGHT THROUGH