A case for the defence? Given that the Celtic rearguard in the Europa League has looked about as leaky as the cistern on a torpedoed battleship – and let’s face it, that particular campaign seems to be sinking just as quickly as said vessel – you could forgive Stuart Findlay from watching things unfold on the tele and saying ‘I would have booted that one to safety.’

The 20-year-old is the diplomatic type, though. “I watched the Molde game but I didn’t look at in the sense that I thought I should have been in there,” he said as he left a salivating posse of press men disappointed in their desperate guddle for a fist-shaking ‘I could've done a job’ kind of line. The 20-year-old has got his own defensive duties to concentrate on with Kilmarnock.

While his good friend, Kieran Tierney, provided the one chink of optimism for Celtic in an otherwise dismal reversal against the Norwegians as he showed his potential on the European stage with a robust display, Findlay is still harbouring hopes that he can join his young colleague in the upper echelons.

The Rutherglen man is making decent strides during his loan stint down the A77 at Rugby Park as he continues his footballing education in Ayrshire. There’s plenty to learn and Findlay has plenty of time on his side.

As Sir Matt Busby once said before clichés were invented, "if you’re good enough, you’re old enough" and Tierney, the teenage left back who was watching Celtic European games from behind the goal as a Parkhead ball boy just a couple of years ago, managed to grab the opportunity he was afforded last Thursday night.

Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, gave the 18-year-old the nod in favour of Honduras international, Emilio Izaguirre, and Tierney repaid that faith in youth with a performance that earned plenty of plaudits even though Celtic failed to earn any points.

We’ve seen it all before, of course, with young players at both the Old Firm clubs down the seasons. A few opportunities in the first team come along, the hoo-hah reaches fever pitch and, before you know it, they disappear off the radar and turn up again at somewhere like Rotherham. We can only guess what the future will hold but Findlay is quietly confident it will be a bright one, both for Tierney and himself.

“I am over the moon for him (Tierney) and long may it continue,” said Findlay, who has already developed a good grasp of footballing speak despite his tender years. “He was a stand-out against Molde. To go from where he was last season playing under-20s football to being a first team regular is impressive. I have played with him in the youths. He has been a couple of years below me but we played a couple of under-20 games together. You could really see he was coming on in terms of his development. When he trained with us you could tell he was moving up and doing really well for himself.”

Seeing one of your contemporaries thrive in any form of sport always provides a source of inspiration and Tierney’s recent exploits on the pitch have certainly given Findlay a further incentive to kick on. “It is good when you look at boys like Kieran, Liam Henderson and Callum McGregor doing well,” he noted.

Having been farmed out to Morton and Dumbarton over the last couple of seasons, Findlay is now getting regular top flight experience with Gary Locke’s Kilmarnock. Unlike Tierney, Findlay has not yet had a taste of first team duty with Celtic but he has certainly not given up on achieving that particular goal. It’s all about putting himself in the shop window and catching the eye.

“I haven’t had my chance yet but the manager has given me an opportunity to go out on loan and has sent me to Kilmarnock to prove what I am worth,” he added. “Hopefully I can impress him here and you never know what might happen when I go back to Celtic in the future. Both Kieran and myself are left footed and we have played together before. But I think I will let the manager make those sort of decisions.”

Findlay will swap club for country this week as he forms part of the Scotland under-21s squad for Friday night’s European Championship qualifier with the Ukraine at St Mirren Park. “We were unfortunate not to beat Iceland in the last game,” said Findlay of the 0-0 draw with the group leaders. “Hopefully we can get a good result and we can start going forward again as a nation.”

It's onwards and upwards.