Captain Steadies The Ship

Last updated : 17 September 2014 By Ed_ScottishFitba

C:WindowsTempphp5D99.tmpJohn Collins believes Scott Brown’s return to action for Celtic has given everyone at Parkhead a lift. Brown has been on the sidelines since July due to a hamstring problem but played for an hour in the 2-1 home win over Aberdeen last Saturday. The midfielder will captain the team in Thursday’s Europa League tie against Salzburg and Collins expects his presence to prompt a similar rise in tempo from his side in Austria.

As he was about to board the plane to Austria, Collins said: "It is great to have him back. Anyone who saw the game on Saturday would have seen he brings so much experience, legs, power and skill while driving the other players forward. It is like having two or three players back when Scott is back in the park."

Following the disappointment in the Champions League qualifiers, Collins hopes Celtic can make their mark in the Europa League this season. Celtic were beaten 6-1 on aggregate by Legia Warsaw before the Poles were ejected from the competition on a technicality. However Celtic blew their second chance at progressing when going down 1-0 at home to Slovenian side Maribor, for a 2-1 aggregate defeat. Collins went on: "I want to get to the final and win and if you ask the same question to the players I am sure they will give you the same answer. There are a lot of good teams in the tournament but we will give it our best shot. We don't have a point to prove but we want to improve. We are all bitterly disappointed that we didn't qualify for the Champions League but you move on to the next challenge and the next challenge is Salzburg. It is a good challenge for us but we are confident of getting a result. I don't think a draw would be a bad result. We will have all the teams back at Celtic Park but we want to win every game."