Celtic fans heaped praise on kid Stephen Welsh for his performance against Rangers - and his reaction to the derby day defeat.

The youngster was one of only a couple of players in green and white to earn pass marks for his showing at Parkhead on Saturday after a late decision by Neil Lennon to stick him in the starting XI. Welsh's showing was decent after Christopher Jullien, Nir Bitton and Hatem Elhamed were all ruled out.

Welsh, 20, had his head in his hands on the bench after being subbed late on, showing emotion as he gathered his thoughts following the loss. But fans were full of compliments for their rising star, insisting he did himself proud.

One said: "Kid done himself no harm at all. Chin up. Him and Laxalt the only ones to earn a wage." Another added: "Boy was thrown in at the deep end, he did not bad".

One commented: "Only player who got pass marks the rest of the team were woeful," while a fourth shared: "Was not helped by more experienced players by his side. He did ok in the circumstances".

Welsh himself admitted frustration with the match but reckons his side have it in them to bounce back. "There are serial winners in that changing room," he said. “So, I have no problem with that. It is still early in the season and it is one result. Anything can change. You saw it last season and have seen in other seasons when we have won all these trophies.

“Everyone gets beaten. You cannot go through a full season and not lose. It happens. It’s really disappointing, but we have so many big games to come back into. We just need to bounce back and there is nothing better than a game against AC Milan. There’s the Scottish Cup. There are so many [big games coming up]."