SIX months to the day since Jonny Hayes went under the knife to repair a broken leg, he stepped onto the pitch in a Celtic strip once more.

The modest surroundings of Vorwarts Steyr’s Life Radio Arena might not be everyone’s idea of a field of dreams, but for the Irishman, it presented the moment he has no doubt long visualised since suffering his horror injury at Dens Park back in January.

And there was no one more delighted for him than his manager Brendan Rodgers, who praised the winger for his resilience and positivity in the face of such a setback in his Celtic career.

“It is great for him and he had one tackle in the second half that would have been great for his confidence,” Rodgers said. “There is no doubt he has put in a lot of work to get ready for things like that first tackle. You are waiting and so when it came it would have been a confidence booster.

“He’s brilliant. He’s such a great character in the squad. When you come in it is always going to take a wee bit of time and he was joining a team that had just won the treble, so he was never going to walk into it.

“He’s built himself up every day, got used to the way of playing, getting fitter and getting stronger, and at the time when he got injured he was hitting really good form.

“It was really unfortunate, but he’s gone away and worked tirelessly. He’s got himself back quicker than we thought he would and we were hoping.

“You saw tonight his running ability and strength and power. He’s there, and it’s still very early in the season, so it’s good.”

This picturesque upper-Austrian town, famed for its motor company, was where the wheels of the Celtic juggernaut slowly cranked into gear once more. The Scottish champions are certainly not purring just yet, getting their pre-season campaign up and running with a low-key friendly win, but Rodgers will be pleased to have given a large chunk of his squad at least 45 minutes of action as they attempt to get firing on all cylinders by the time their Champions League qualifier against Alashkert in Armenia rolls around on July 10th.

The match itself wasn’t much to write home about apart from James Forrest’s fine second-half finish, but it served its purpose as the Celtic players carried out their quest for match sharpness in a perfunctory manner.

With their World Cup participants missing and Moussa Dembele and Odsonne Edouard given the night off, there was a mixture of youth and experience in Brendan Rodgers’ first team selection of pre-season.

Lewis Morgan made his first start for Celtic while youngsters Stephen Welsh and Kerr McInroy were given a chance to impress and Marvin Compper came in for his first appearance since making his debut in the Scottish Cup quarter-final against Morton back in March.

Whether he can stake a claim for a regular start remains open to debate though, and his manager was less than committal when the question was raised.

“Time will tell,” Rodgers said.  “We have a lot of young, exciting players in that position along the back three.  They are fast, quick, strong and aggressive. 

“They are all alert, developing and improving but it is great.  We have a good fight on with them all. We will get them through pre-season and then see where we are.

“Marvin got the game time as did the other players. We look for personality in our players and a lot came in and played with that.”

There was little goalmouth action to speak of early on, but Ryan Christie was halted as he ran through towards goal by SKV goalkeeper Reinhard Grobalber handling the ball outside his area. If it hadn’t been a friendly, he would have surely seen red.

It was Morgan who was the standout performer for Celtic from his station on the right, showing a deft touch to receive several long diagonals and pace and invention when in possession. A promising start from the former St Mirren man, who drew the first save from Grobalber in the final minute of the half with a decent right-foot effort.

“I thought he did well,” Rodgers reflected after the game. “He has come in and he has worked hard.  He has come in to make an impact.  “He is not a 17 or 18-year-old boy, he is in his early 20s and he wants to come in and be effective. 

“I think he is best off the left side but I think he shows how naturally gifted he is with both feet. He can play on the other side as well. He loves to take people on. I thought he was very good.”

It was largely tame stuff on the whole though, with the likes of Ryan Christie failing to shine. The sizable crowd would have been hoping that an entirely different outfield Celtic eleven for the second period, with only Scott Bain remaining in goals, would spark things into life, and Jonny Hayes did so immediately as he hit the byline and got a great cross over that Forrest should have finished.

Scott Allan, who showed some nice flashes of skill here and there, thought he had scored as his shot appeared to cleared from behind the line by the arms of Steyr’s Michael Halbartschlager, but the referee simply waved play on.

They did make the breakthrough with 18 minutes remaining as Forrest went on a mazy run from the right before sliding the ball into the far corner of the net.