Conor Hazard found himself back in the starting XI for Monday night’s 1-1 draw with Hibernian at Celtic Park.

The 22-year-old goalkeeper produced a number of impressive saves over the course of the 90 minutes, and was understandably disappointed to lose a late equaliser in a game he reckoned Celtic deserved to win.

The Irish stopper is expecting another tough game this Saturday against an in-form Livingston, but said he and his team-mates are desperate to bounce back from their result at the start of the week with three points this afternoon.

Speaking to the official match programme, Hazard said: “We know the way Livingston like to play and we have to be prepared for that.

'As a goalkeeper, I hope that we can play tight at the back and I can maybe make some saves as well as we target three points for the team. We’ve then got Livingston again in the next game on Wednesday, but our full focus is on Saturday’s game.'

On Monday, the impact of Chris Jullien’s positive test for COVID-19, with 13 first-team players having to self-isolate, saw a number of younger players drafted the champions’ squad against Hibs, with first-team coach Gavin Strachan joined in the home dugout by reserve boss Tommy McIntyre and his assistant Stephen McManus.

Hazard said these familiar and capable faces helped the young guys settle into the matchday experience, all of whom are desperate to pull on the Hoops. The Irishman said despite his recent call-ups to Neil Lennon’s first team, he still feels exactly the same, and he cherishes every chance he gets to impress in green and white.

“Not many people in the world get to put on the Celtic jersey, so I’m sure the younger guys coming into the squad this week felt the same way I felt recently,” Hazard said. “It’s always an honour and anyone who gets the chance to do, so at a young age can take a real boost from that in their upcoming years.

“For me, it’s always about trying to get that experience of playing at this level, playing under pressure in every game and making sure every performance needs to count. My only advice to any of the younger guys coming in, having experienced it myself recently, is to enjoy it. There’s no point in playing football if you don’t enjoy it.

'We know we’ve got the quality of players coming through as well, especially from all the youth levels here at the club, and those guys are all confident in their ability. They wouldn’t be at the club if they weren’t good enough to play and step up as and when required.'

“It’s less than ideal to have the gaffer and Kendo missing in the dugout at present, but Gavin is more than capable of leading things in their absence. On Monday, he was very good with everybody, and he’s got a lot of respect in the dressing room.

“I’ve also worked with Tommy McIntyre loads coming up through the youth as well, so it was good to see some familiar faces in there, and Woodsy was, of course, there as well. At this club, you need to be prepared to play in any scenario. I thought we did well against Hibs and given how the game went at the end, I didn’t think we deserved that."

He added: “I’m confident in my own ability and I know that whenever I’m called upon I need to be ready to perform. We’re very disappointed with the game on Monday night – we felt we’d done enough and deserved to come away with a victory – but, at the end of the day, it needs to be about how we bounce back again.”

Conor Hazard: We're focused on getting back to winning ways