Scott Bain welcomed Kieran Tierney back to the Celtic fold with the Hoops on the home straight of a possible and unprecedented domestic treble-treble.
The 21-year-old left-back returned for the 4-1 home win over Motherwell on Sunday after recovering from a hip problem which kept him out since mid-December and he was handed the captain’s armband in the absence of the suspended Scott Brown.
Tierney looked as if he had never been away before fatigue saw him replaced by Jonny Hayes after 68 minutes.
Celtic have already won the Betfred Cup this season, they are eight points ahead of Rangers at the top of the Ladbrokes Premiership and face Hibernian in a William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final at Easter Road on Saturday.
Ahead of Wednesday night’s trip to play Hearts at Tynecastle, Bain is glad Tierney is back to bolster the squad.
The Hoops goalkeeper said: “He’s a real talent and he drives the team on from left-back which is unusual from that position.
“He is powerful, he brings pace to the team and his quality on the ball is fantastic so it is great to have him back and he is obviously made to wear Celtic’s armband when Scott is not there.
“We all know how big a Celtic fan he is so I am sure he loves that.”
While the Hoops are in top form domestically, Bain knows they lost 1-0 at Tynecastle in the second league game of the season.
The Scotland international said: “Since January we have said that we are going into every game as a cup final and we want to win every game.
“Every game brings different objectives, difficulties and circumstances.
“It is going to be a tough game, we know that. It is a tight pitch, they have good players, strong, powerful and pretty direct.
“We know that we have to stand up and be counted, be aggressive and strong.
“We have stood up to challenges like that before and we can do it again.”
