Stephen Welsh said the faith Neil Lennon has shown in him has been a huge confidence boost and the young defender is eager to help continue Celtic’s recent run of form.

Welsh returned to the starting XI on Wednesday night (February 17) after picking up a minor injury against St Mirren which caused him to miss Celtic’s game against St Johnstone at McDiarmid Park.

The 21-year-old put in another solid performance to help his side defeat Aberdeen 1-0 and extend Celtic’s winning run to five wins in five.

The St Johnstone game was the only fixture of that run Welsh has missed and the Hoops defender is eager to help Celtic continue the positive results.

“When you get brought in the team and are winning, it’s a big confidence boost, especially when we’re keeping clean sheets,” he said. “It’s a good few we’ve got now and it’s a case of trying to build on that in the coming games.

'When you get a run of games it gives you a lot of confidence to go and play well in the next one, especially when we’re winning.'

"The team’s played really well with good performance in the last few games now. Personally, it’s good to get a consistent run of games.

“We’re digging out wins when we need to now, especially the other night. We haven’t done that a lot this season. In the last 10 minutes Aberdeen really showed their quality but I thought we dealt with the balls into the box in the last 15 minutes really well.”

Welsh admitted playing in the first-team regularly has been a dream come true and said the trust Neil Lennon has put in him has been great for his development.

“At my age now, I need to play a lot of games,” said Welsh. “At 21, you need to start playing games consistently and to do that with Celtic is the perfect scenario for me. To go and play a lot of games for Celtic is what I want to do.

“For the manager to put trust in me to play in big games this season has been a big confidence boost for me, especially in the European games. Playing in those games against the likes of Ibrahimovic gives you a reality check about that’s how good these players are at this level.

“Last season, I had to go out and get games. Morton took me in and gave me the experience of playing 15-20 games in six months. I came back here and that stood me in good stead for coming back here and playing first team football.”

Stephen Welsh: Confidence boost from first-team run