STEPHEN Welsh last night described Celtic’s display in the Premier Sports Cup second round win over Hearts at Parkhead as “unbelievable” – but admitted there is still room for improvement.

Welsh scored a first-half header in a 3-2 victory over Robbie Neilson’s team yesterday to help send Ange Posteocglou’s side through to a quarter-final against Raith Rovers next month.

But the centre half confessed he was disappointed that Liam Boyce and Aaron McEnuff were able to score for the visitors in the second-half and vowed to work hard to cut our careless errors at the back. 

“The first-half was an unbelievable performance.” he said. “Probably the best I have seen in a while from a Celtic team.

“Second-half we were off it a wee bit, but that is maybe because of the intensity that we play at. You are going to get a bit tired.

“I’m very confident that will just come with the amount of games we are playing. But the most important thing is that we won the game and went into the hat for the next round.”

Welsh added: “As a defender, first and foremost I want to keep clean sheets, so not to do that is disappointing for me also. I know we will go away and work on things to stop that.

“We know that out Europa League play-off opponents AZ Alkmaar are going to be a top side and we’ll need to be on top of our game on Wednesday night.”

Welsh scored in a Premiership win over Motherwell last season, but he confessed that netting with supporters inside Parkhead was a special experience.

“That’s my first in front of fans and I cannot even describe it,” he said. “It is probably one of the best feelings I have ever had.

“For me the most important thing is to win the game and if I can contribute to that, then even better. The adrenaline gets to you.”