I was heartened at the sight of Craig Gordon back out with the gloves on this week at Lennoxtown.

The Celtic goalkeeper had effectively written off this season after picking up a knee injury and sometimes it is only when someone isn’t there that you can appreciate how good they are.

I am a huge admirer of Gordon and I think that some of the criticism he drew this season was over the top at times.

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The fact that he is back a little bit earlier than anticipated is a good sign because you would hope that he will be able to get a bit of game time in before the end of the season.

If that proves to be the case then it means that he is not starting entirely from scratch when pre-season comes around which could be huge for Celtic given the proximity of the Champions League qualifiers.

There are four rounds of games to be played this season and having your best keeper match fit and ready to go could be crucial to getting through them and back into the group stages.

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On that same front, the likes of Stuart Armstrong, Dedryck Boyata and Patrick Roberts all getting back to fitness is good news for Celtic in the run-in now too. It gives them options as we reach the business end of the season and you would hope that Leigh Griffiths gets back on the pitch before too long as well.

There have been a lot of disruptions to the season due to the injuries this term and having a healthier squad will give the manager a few decisions to make in terms of personnel over the next few weeks.