O’Dea and his coaching staff were thrilled to see the work put in at Lennoxtown already taking shape, despite so little time to work ahead of the trip to take on East Kilbride.

Although the B Team coach knows his players will be disappointed by the end result, he believes they should keep their heads held high after their showing at K Park.

“We didn’t change any of the principles of what we do,” he said. “We just changed the shape, and where players maybe start off.

“That can spook players at times, because they are so used to playing in certain positions, but ultimately, certainly for the time they’ve been with me, for someone of them that is a year and some of them four years, the principles of us wanting to press the ball aggressively and high up the pitch will never change.

“How we try to do that might change now and again. So I was really impressed with the intelligence of the players and the commitment.

“I am sitting here and obviously I am gutted for them because they will have wanted the win.

‘But I don’t need the win, I am more than comfortable to say that I am happy with what they did.’

“I know we can get better off the back of it and that is what this season is going to need to be about. We are going to need to take big steps because we are a new really young group.

“After tonight, I am certainly looking forward to the rest of the season with them.”

With fixtures in competitions such as the Lowland League, Premier League International Cup and UEFA Youth League to come, there is bound to be a real mix in opposition that the Bhoys will take on.

Coming up against East Kilbride offered the Celts a slightly different challenge, in terms of the regular Lowland League sides they will face week in week out, due to the style of play the new management staff have implemented at the club.

That is a challenge that O’Dea was pleased to come up against, and it proved to be a competitive and closely contested game of football on Tuesday evening.

After seeing more positives from his side at K Park, the Irishman is looking forward to continuing the work on the training ground for the season ahead.

“We actually thought of this game as one of the higher end games, in terms of what we are going to face, with the Premier League competition and the UEFA Youth League," he said.

“Fair play to East Kilbride, they play a very attractive style. They really do try to break you down and dominate the ball, a lot of similar things to us.

'So it was a real game of football – a really competitive game. You had to fight for every inch, and it’s so important.'

“It’s easier for them to do that, they have men in their team and some of them have done it at a higher level for years and years.

“We’ve got young kids coming in who have never done it. That was the question before hand, can we develop that and that skill of having all the nice stuff, being able to pass it and move it, things we coach them every day.

“But do you have the actual hunger and grit to come to a place like this, in a difficult venue and find your way through the game.

“From minute one, the players were fantastic. They’ll be disappointed with the result, but I am so pleased now and I am looking forward to seeing where we can now take this for the rest of the year.”

Darren O’Dea: The boys showed real courage and intelligence in their performance