Soccer

Mowbray beats himself up over McGeady injury

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray admits he only has himself to blame after Aiden McGeady limped out of Wednesday night's 4-0 Co-operative…

Thu Sept 24 2009 - 01:00

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray admits he only has himself to blame after Aiden McGeady limped out of Wednesday night's 4-0 Co-operative Insurance Cup win over Falkirk..

Mowbray made eight changes and rested several first-team players for the third round tie at the Falkirk Stadium but opted to throw McGeady into the action when Celtic were leading by three goals

However, he is now lamenting that decision after the Republic of Ireland international was forced out of the match in the closing minutes with an ankle injury and could now be considered a doubt for this weekend's league game at St Mirren and possibly even next week's Europa League tie against Rapid Vienna.

Mowbray said: "We have a concern for Aiden, who took a knock on his ankle, and I'll probably beat myself up tonight about why I brought McGeady on when I left five at home.

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"I should have resisted putting him on and he has got a knock but let's hope it's not a bad one. I'm a bit frustrated that I put him on when the game was probably finished anyway.

"It is probably more than just a kick otherwise he wouldn't have hobbled off. Am I concerned? Yes, a little bit."

Barry Robson - making his first start of the season - also appeared to leave the pitch in some discomfort but Mowbray added: "I think he is fine. He got a whack to a very delicate area but there is no strain or injury.

"We decided he had been on the pitch long enough anyway so we took him off. There was no setback for Barry and I'm sure he will benefit from that 75 minutes."

A double from Scott McDonald and goals from Paddy McCourt and Chris Killen saw the holders safely through to the quarter-finals.

But, despite stealing the show on the night, Mowbray warned former Derry City player McCourt he has plenty to improve on before he can consider himself the finished article.

He said: "Football is never about one player but we know Pat can do those sorts of things. He is more than capable of doing things like that and we see it every day in training.

"If football was only about dribbling ability, Pat would play every week. But football is more than just dribbling and doing wonderful things.

"Pat has plenty of things he needs to add to his game. He has to work hard when we don't have possession, he has to work on his fitness levels and his discipline. But I was happy enough with him."