Ange Postecoglou backs David Turnbull to play key role during rest of the season

Celtic manager Ange Postecoglou believes a fit-again David Turnbull will be an important player during the final two months of the season.

The 22-year-old is in line to make his return from a three-month lay-off when the cinch Premiership leaders host Ross County on Saturday.

Turnbull was an ever-present for Postecoglou before tearing his hamstring in the Premier Sports Cup final on December 19 and by that point had played 37 matches this season.

The former Motherwell midfielder started all but one match before his injury and he came off the bench to hit the winner in the Europa League dead rubber against Real Betis when he was named on the bench.

Postecoglou said: “Dave Turnbull is available, he has trained the last 10 days.

“He was fantastic for us in the first half of the year and it was disappointing for him that he got a fairly significant injury that has kept him out for a while.

“But he has worked hard in rehab and I know he is itching to get back out there. He has been training really well over the last seven to 10 days.

“I was probably a bit conservative with him, I could have maybe thrown him in last week, but watching him train he is ready to go and I think he will be important for us.

“He’s a quality player, he is a goal threat, he is good on set-pieces and I think he adds something to our team.”

Celtic have two wingers back for the visit of Malky Mackay’s side but have lost another one following the Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Dundee United.

“Jota and Liel Abada are all good, they have trained all week,” Postecoglou said. “They missed Monday night but it wasn’t anything too serious.

“James Forrest pulled up a bit sore from the other night. Again, nothing too serious but he will miss Saturday.”

Kyogo Furuhashi was pictured training on his own at Lennoxtown this week having not featured since aggravating a hamstring injury on Boxing Day. But Postecoglou was again reluctant to put any pressure on the Japan forward by predicting a return date.

“We will just wait and see,” the Celtic boss. “I said a while back that Dave got injured before Kyogo so read into that what you like. But without putting any time frames on it, he is working on his rehab and I’m sure he will be available soon.”

County posed a major challenge to Celtic at Dingwall in December with the visitors needing a stoppage-time winner from Anthony Ralston to claim a 2-1 win after Carl Starfelt had been ordered off.

“It was a tough game, we went down to 10 men, so we had to fight our way through that and managed to get an important three points,” Postecoglou said. “I think we were fairly depleted that day if I remember correctly.

“It will be a tough test for us but they are all tough tests at the moment. Every game has got its own unique challenges.

“They are on good form, Livingston were on good form too. What’s important is what we bring and our form has been pretty consistent.

“When we bring the energy and tempo to our football that makes it difficult for oppositions, then it gives us a chance for success.”