SIMON FERRY would love to see Celtic make it nine-in-a-row by successfully defending their SPL reserve championship next season.

But the man whose wonder goal sealed the 1-0 victory over Rangers which gave them an eighth successive title has set his sights on not being part of the next team put together by coaches Willie McStay and Danny McGrain.

The precocious 21-year-old - who cheekily described the volley which beat Allan McGregor by saying: "I just van Bastened it into the net" - has already been promoted to Gordon Strachan's bench for first team games.

But Ferry is honest enough to acknowledge this has much to do with the rules which demand three players Under-21 are involved in the squad on any given match day.

The player who has missed two and a half years of his career with a recurring ankle injury will soon have to earn his place purely on merit.

However, just like the difficult route back from his career-threatening injury, that's a challenge the Dundee youngster - who has been at the club since he was 11 - is happy to meet head on.

Gordon Strachan describes Ferry as infectious, and the Bhoy wonder hopes it's an opinion that's catching.

He said: "It's nice to hear these things from the manager. But now I just want to get on the park and play for him to see that he trusts me.

"I can understand though, that when you are going for the league championship, it's hard to put someone like me on when I have never been tested.

"I have only played four reserve games in two years. So it's a big ask to put me in the first team. I understand the Under-21 rule means we get the chance to be on the bench, and for young players like me it's brilliant.

"But I can also understand where the manager is coming from when he says it is not right because he has experienced players who have to sit in the stand to make room for us."

Ferry is due to bit of good fortune, given the difficult few years he has just endured.

His positive attitude has ensured he has always had the chance of a happy ending to what was becoming a very sorry tale.

He recalled: "My problems with my ankle started when I was about 15.

"I played my first season with the Under-19s then I went to Poland with Scotland for the European Championships.

"When I got back from that, I just kept going over on my right ankle or getting kicked on it.

"I had to go and see a specialist in London, and he told me my bones kept calcifying which meant they were growing where they should not have been growing. He performed two operations to sort that, and since then it has been fine.

"I've been back playing for a couple of months, and I've had no problems since."

He certainly had no difficulty slamming the ball home for the winning goal yesterday.

But no one was more surprised than Ferry, who had missed a gilt-edged chance in the previous reserve game against Hearts which could have sealed the point they needed long before they headed for Ibrox.

He laughed: "I think my last goal was the one which won is the Under-19 championships a couple of years ago.

"I honestly can't score goals. When we do shooting practice at Lennoxtown, I am always the last man to finish.

"I don't know what happened at Ibrox. I just shut my eyes and hit it when Ryan Conroy crossed to me."

Typical understatement from the likeable youngster who was booked for pulling of his shirt to celebrate his goal and admitted: "I ran to the wrong side of the park.

"I went to celebrate with the fans, but there was no-one in that stand when I looked up."