Amjad Iqbal: “I knew it was in!”By James Grayson

Celtic’s vice-captain Amjad Iqbal walked away from Alfreton’s Impact Arena a happy man after scoring the goal that set Celtic on their way to victory.

Amjad opened the scoring on six minutes and he is glad he stayed up the pitch after the corner was partially cleared, he said: “I stayed up and eventually Craig Bentham shot at goal and it came back off somebody and it landed at my feet. I just got it out of my feet and shot into the corner. I knew it was in from the moment I kicked it!”

Amjad was delighted with the 2-0 victory, he said: “The game was very hard. But it was a good team performance, all 11 players including the subs who came on. For our good performance we have been rewarded with a home tie against York. We will relish the game because we owe them one for when they beat us at home.

“For the Alfreton match we were motivated and John Deacey was reason why we were. He got us motivated in his talk before the match and this helped us win.”

Celtic had to dig deep and goalkeeper Tom Morgan was one of the reasons why the game was won, Amjad wasn’t surprised by Tom’s heroics, he commented: “He made some great saves at Alfreton and he has been like that all season.”

Amjad is dreaming of a trip to Wembley at the end of the season and a win today will take nearer to the dream, he commented: “Hopefully, that is what we are hoping for. Basically every game we go into we hope to win. We don’t go looking for draws or defeats. We are capable of winning every game! John Deacey has put together a fantastic squad, great individuals – on and off the pitch.”

Amjad is hoping for big crowd for today’s match, he explained: “Since the game is on Sunday we should get a big crowd. The atmosphere at Throstle Nest should be fantastic and it will especially be if we get the win to progress to the next round.”