KRIS COMMONS praised Craig Gordon for making the saves that ensured Celtic continued their positive start to their Europa League group campaign.
The Scotland goalkeeper was called into action a number of times at Celtic Park to thwart Dinamo Zagreb after Commons had given his side a sixth-minute lead. The 1-0 victory for Ronny Deila's men means they sit joint top of the table after two matches, and led to Commons hailing Gordon as the ideal replacement for the departed Fraser Forster, who left Celtic for Southampton in the summer.
"In the end, we were relying on our keeper to make saves and he's more than capable of that," said Commons. "He's a terrific replacement for Fraser ever since he walked into the building.
"Everyone knew what he was capable of and, although he had injury problems, they are behind him and he's going to get better and better. He's not let us down once and he's keeping us in the big games. It's giving the back four a lot of confidence and we know if we score we can win a game."
Scott Brown echoed those sentiments. "Craig was brilliant again and I just said to him after the game that he's going to hit his peak when he's 40," said the Celtic captain. "He just seems to be getting better and better. Craig is a great guy as well and is brilliant around the dressing-room."
Commons endured an up-and-down first half. His goal arose after an eye-catching exchange with Anthony Stokes, before he passed up a golden chance to return the favour after goalkeeper Eduardo had been caught in possession.
"It was a great goal," he added. "I got a call from Stokesy and I knew he was on my wavelength, so it was good to link up. As soon as I hit it, I knew it was in and it got us off to a good start. It was the perfect start and I actually think we could have gone in at the break a couple more in front. We had some decent chances, including one for me when the goalkeeper gave us possession.
"That was like the bad and the ugly after the good! In 16 years as a professional I've never had that happen to me in the box. It was like something [out of] an under-11 game.
"My initial thought was to shoot, then I thought I'd pass to Stokesy and I ended up doing nothing and looking like an amateur."
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