Maloney Stars in Celtic Return

SHAUN Maloney celebrated his return to Celtic from Aston Villa with a man of the match performance in the 3-0 win over Falkirk at Parkhead. Maloney returned to Celtic in a $4 million deal from Villa on Friday and marked his comeback with two assists as Georgios Samaras (two) and Stephen McManus scored.

The Scottish striker was delighted with his return, but reserved his highest praise for Irish winger Aiden McGeady.

"I knew how good Aiden was when I left but he has improved a hell of a lot," said Maloney. "He has pretty much everything now, the final delivery, the shot or pass, he has that end product to his game now.

"And he scares the life out of defenders when he starts running at them. If the players make runs ahead of him then he will find them.

"The pace of the team as we are breaking is different from when I was last here, especially with some of the attacking players we have.

"The energy is also different. Our midfield two Paul Hartley and Scott Brown were up against a Falkirk central midfield three and that is quite difficult, but they coped very well."

A first half sub against Falkirk, Maloney could start against Rangers next weekend with injury concerns over Scott McDonald and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.

"Obviously when I signed I knew the game was a week away," added Maloney. "These games are huge and I think everybody in the squad will be vying for a place and I will be no different."

Celtic fans gave Maloney a rousing reception on his return, and so did manager Gordon Strachan.

"Shaun lifted the crowd when he came on and played very well," Strachan said. "We couldn't get our instructions about our shape on to the first set of strikers but Shaun listened.

"He got the reception I expected. I spoke to people on Friday about some negativity about him coming back and I said to them, 'Wait until tomorrow,' and I think that was a good idea."

Meanwhile, Bobo Balde has said he is no hurry to leave Celtic on a free transfer despite renewed interest from Birmingham.

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Nster.com