Davie Hay: Win is only thing that matters for Celtic boss Ronny

And he had to wait longer than he would have hoped to see his side score the first goal of his reign.

But it all worked out fine in midweek as Celtic beat KR Reykjavik 1-0 in Iceland in the Champions League second qualifying round.

Winning on Tuesday night was the most important thing for Ronny and the squad and now that the first game is out of the way they can continue working hard and building as the games, both competitive and friendly, continue to come thick and fast.

It is never easy having to play competitive games at this stage of the season, but Celtic coped with it well in Iceland and will be better for having come through another 90 minutes.

You have to deal with these situations and Celtic did. They could have won by a larger margin on the night, but they got their goal and got the win that they deserved.

I thought you could see a lack of sharpness in the first half and you could tell that the players haven't had that many games so far this season.

In the second half, they moved the ball a bit better and could have scored a couple of more goals to make the scoreline a bit more comfortable.

The main thing for Ronny was getting the win and making sure they didn't make any mistakes. The second leg is still to be played next week but Celtic are surely into the third round already.

By the time the first leg of that tie comes around in a couple of weeks, Celtic will have had more games under their belt and, although the opposition will be stiffer, you would expect to see an improvement from Celtic as well.

They will be more up to speed in terms of their fitness and their sharpness. I thought it was an encouraging performance and Celtic are only going to get better.

One of the pleasing aspects of the game was the fact that Fraser Forster and Efe Ambrose came back into the side and played.

Despite having missed pre-season, they will probably be more up to speed than the rest of the team due to the fact that they have been at the World Cup in Brazil this summer.

Their level of fitness should be good and they should be relatively sharp having trained most of the summer. I thought Fraser, in particular, looked up to scratch and Efe didn't do much wrong.

You have to remember that the standard of opposition wasn't great. But Celtic had a job to do and they did it well.

Celtic will go into next Tuesday's second leg knowing that the job is all but done, but that won't mean they can slacken and take their eye off the ball.

You have to do everything you can to make sure you don't slip up and Ronny won't be taking anything for granted.

The second leg at Murrayfield will be the first time many of the fans will have seen Celtic in action this season and there will be a decent crowd there to cheer them on so they need to put in a performance.

Having the fans there will give Celtic an added edge and I can't see there being any problems for them.

ONE thing is for certain - it was a match that young Callum McGregor will never forget.

He was maybe a surprise starter, but he has clearly done enough to impress the manager in pre-season and made the most of his chance to grab the headlines and score the goal.

As the game went on, I actually thought Leigh Griffiths was coming on to a game and it could have been Callum who went off when Ronny was looking to change things.

The fact he got the whole 90 minutes will give Callum a massive boost. He did well out on loan at Notts County last season and has made a terrific start to the new campaign.

He was given the nod to start ahead of Derk Boerrigter and Teemu Pukki, who had impressed in the friendly games as well.

And that will give him a real lift to know that the manager thinks highly of him. It is an indication that Ronny is willing to give the younger players a chance and the rest of the kids in the squad will certainly take heart from that.

Liam Henderson and Darnell Fisher came into the team last season and impressed. These boys give hope to their team-mates at youth level that it is possible to make the breakthrough into the first team.

You might find the manager wants to go down that route and bring more of the kids through this season. Callum is now leading the way and hopefully there is plenty more to come from him this year.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here