Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers hails Scott Sinclair after he enters record books

By PA Sport

Image: Celtic's Scott Sinclair celebrates his goal at Inverness

Brendan Rodgers hailed Scott Sinclair after the Celtic attacker joined Jimmy McGrory in the club's record books with his goal in the 2-2 draw at Inverness.

The 27-year-old scored for the fifth successive Premiership game with a curling shot from the edge of the box after Tom Rogic's opener for the visitors had been cancelled out by Billy King, with substitute Alex Fisher's first goal for Inverness in the 89th minute leading to a share of the points.

Sinclair, who joined from Aston Villa in the summer, became the first Celtic player to achieve that feat since McGrory, who played for the club between 1922 and 1937 and later went on to manage them in the 1934/35 season.

Celtic dropped points for the first time in the Scottish Premiership this season after conceding an 89th minute goal to Inverness Caledonian Thistle

"If he ends up like Jimmy he will be all right - he will be in the Celtic Musical [a current show about the club]," Rodgers said. "You can see he is quality. His ability to take the ball up the field quickly is there and he has a hunger to score goals. It was a wonderful finish.

"He is 27, not so many miles on the clock, but you see his speed and natural finishing ability and he will be disappointed he hasn't scored more today.

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"He is enjoying his life in Scotland, loves playing for Celtic and will be a player who will go and be a great servant for the club."

Sinclair was pleased to hear about the record but disappointed not to take three points from the game.

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"I wasn't aware of it [the record] until someone told me after the game," he said. "It is a good achievement, but you want to come off scoring goals and winning games really.

Image: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers hailed Sinclair after his goal

"I just go into every game looking to create and score goals, but the main thing is getting three points."

Inverness can put their point, which takes them off the bottom of the table, down mostly to a man-of-the-match performance from goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams, while Celtic moved three points clear of Hearts at the top with a game in hand.

Rodgers said: "I thought we deserved the three points, but give credit to Inverness they kept going. We were disappointed to concede so late. He [Fon Williams] deserved it, he made some great saves and at 2-1 you need that third goal."

Image: Inverness Caley Thistle's Alex Fisher (hidden) celebrates his goal against Celtic

The biggest talking point of the game came at 1-1 in the first half when Inverness midfielder Ross Draper went to ground inside the Celtic area after a challenge by the back-tracking Erik Sviatchenko, but referee Don Robertson ignored what appeared to be a good penalty claim.

Inverness boss Richie Foran thought the challenge was outside the box, but claimed the official still should have taken action.

Image: Ross Draper looks to the referee after the incident with Celtic's Erik Sviatchenko

"I think it is outside the box, it is a clear free-kick which leads to a clear sending-off," he said. "It changes the whole outlook of the game, down to 10 men and gives us a boost and it is a disappointing decision. I think that's when you need brave referees.

"Ross has pushed the ball in front of the player and put his body in front of him and has been wiped out. It was clear for everyone to see. We had a chat and he didn't think Ross had control of the ball.

Image: Inverness manager Richie Foran thinks the referee should have taken action against Sviatchenko

"In fairness, we have the luxury of seeing it back on television and he has made the wrong decision."

Rodgers added: "I haven't seen it again, but they say some people have watched it eight times and are unsure."

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