BRENDAN Rodgers has praised Partick Thistle player Gary Fraser for being “man enough” to seek him out and apologise for kicking the ball at Celtic fans.

Fraser petulantly booted the ball into the crowd from point-blank range towards the end of the Firhill club’s 2-0 defeat in a Ladbrokes Premiership game at Parkhead on Wednesday night.

The contrite midfielder has since described the incident as “a moment of madness” and contacted the Celtic supporter he struck to invite her and a friend to be his guest at a January match between the two sides.

Read more: Stuart Armstrong: Gary Mackay-Steven is one of my best pals but I'll blank him at Celtic Park on Saturday

Rodgers has also revealed that the 24-year-old had waited for him in the foyer of Celtic Park after the match to express his remorse at how he had acted and paid tribute to him for the gesture.

“When I was coming down the stairs after the press conference he (Fraser) was there,” he said. “He actually waited to apologise to me.

“At least he was man enough to do that. I said to him: ‘You can’t be doing that!’ He said: ‘I didn’t mean to do that, I had actually meant to hit the boards’. I said: ‘Well, you have got to work on your shooting then’.”

Rodgers - whose side recovered from their 4-0 defeat at the hands of Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, their first in 70 domestic matches, with a comfortable victory – admitted he had still not seen the incident.

Read more: Erik Sviatchenko set to depart Celtic in January following the arrival of Martin Compper at Parkhead​

But the Northern Irishman predicted the former Hamilton and Bolton Wanderers players wouldn’t be so rash in the future.

“I still haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure it’s something he won’t do again,” he said.

“I had no doubt that he would apologise to the Celtic fans and he has done that. But he couldn’t do it straight away so at least he was man enough to come to me as the leader of the team.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers has targeted a double-figure lead for Celtic at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership by the end of the year.

The Hoops have achieved their manager's first two aims by retaining the Betfred League Cup and qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League.

The champions went five points clear of second-placed Aberdeen, who they play at home tomorrow, on Wednesday night.

Rodgers wants his team to win against Aberdeen at Celtic Park tomorrow, Dundee at Dens Park on Tuesday night and Rangers at home on Saturday week and stretch even further ahead.

Read more: Stuart Armstrong warns Celtic teammates they will have to be wary of pal Gary Mackay-Steven​

He said: "I said to the players a numbers of weeks ago about the three targets by December 30.

"If we can win the League Cup, qualify for the Europa League and have double-figure advantage by the time we arrive into the winter break then we will have a brilliant season.

"Okay, if we don't have the double figures, as long as we have that gap then that will represent an outstanding start for the players through qualification for Europa League and winning the League Cup. That would be a great, great end to the year for us."

Asked if he was surprised that Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes had turned down the chance to go to Rangers, Rodgers said: "I suppose everyone was expecting him to go because of his allegiances there, having been a player and obviously a club he supported.

"But as a manager you also have to have a strategy, it can't be always with the heart.

"You have to think things through and obviously have to speak to people and find out what the strategy is and if everything is aligned within that before you make a decision."