It's Mowbray's men at work at Celtic show graft on way to comfortable win in Brisbane

TEN days of intensive training with his players told Tony Mowbray a lot about the side he has inherited. But 90 minutes of action in Australia has told him so much more.

The new Celtic manager was delighted to get off to a winning start with a 3-0 victory over Brisbane Roar, which allowed him to pack the Translink Cup among the souvenirs to bring home.

However, it was the application of the 19 men Mowbray used in the Suncorp Stadium which really put a smile on his face.

It would have been so easy to use the long flight, jet-lag and strange surroundings as a reason to ease themselves into the heavy pre-season schedule.

With a new manager to impress, and one who has made it clear from day one that every position is up for grabs, that would have been the wrong option to take.

Chris Killen - revelling in excellent delivery from wide - showed the way with two fine goals to remind everyone that he is still on the books.

New Bhoy Marc-Antoine Fortune was among those impressed by the Kiwi striker's performance, warning the signing from Nancy - who came on for the final half-hour - that places are not going to be won on reputation or price tag.

Koki Mizuno was another to step out of the shadows which have been his abode for the past 18 months, adding the third goal with a spectacular diving header just six minutes after entering the action at the interval.

Paddy McCourt's legendary lack of fitness was again his undoing, while Marc Crosas's failure to add muscle to his talented bones in his first pre-season with the club would also have gone down as a negative.

But there were far more positives to justify this arduous trip, and Mowbray will return to Lennoxtown with his men later this week in a far better position to assess who has a future in his team, and which areas are in most need of strengthening.

The game plan he insists they must all follow was laid out from the start in Brisbane, with sharp passing, possession and flexibility between positions at the core.

Shaun Maloney, who started in left midfield while Aiden McGeady - who is a week behind in training after coming back later following his international duty at the end of last season - exploited this better than anyone else.

He linked up superbly with the strikers, Killen and Scott McDonald, to cause the Roar defenders plenty of headaches.

The switching between 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 was seamless and effective, and helped create a superb second goal for Killen.

Mowbray knows that these are still very early days, and that there is lot of work still to be done. Indeed, had Artur Boruc not pulled off four excellent saves before being replaced by Lukasz Zaluska at half-time, Celtic could have been heading home licking their wounds.

As it is, the manager can enjoy his one game, one win strike rate.

Mowbray reflected: "It was a proper football match against a highly motivated team, and it was a really good test for us for the full 90 minutes.

"We probably gave them too many opportunities in the first 10 minutes. But that's understandable after the journey and how quickly the game has come after landing.

"We put a really good work ethic into it, and a couple of real bits of quality scored us the goals.

"In any football match, that's ultimately what counts. Quality in the final third makes a difference."

Mowbray got the chance to see all of his strikers, though captain-for-the-day McDonald was at a disadvantage as he has not yet returned to pre-season training following his summer marriage.

That was evident in the way he snatched at chances, desperate to put on a show in front of his countrymen.

Fortune would have given anything for one of the decent sights of goal afforded Oz, but the manager was satisfied with the new signing's first outing.

Mowbray said: "Marc showed how strong he can be, and how well he holds the ball up. We were pretty conscious he's done no training with us really, so we didn't want to rush him into anything.

"He'll be fine, I've got no fears about his quality and he'll fit in well.

Despite having a squad of 19 stripped, Celtic finished the game with only 10 men on the pitch as teenage defender Milan Misun sustained an injury to his right knee five minutes from time after all the subs had been deployed.

Mowbray is waiting for confirmation the damage is not serious and said: "We're hopeful it's just a kick, but there's a bit of swelling there. Hopefully it's not too serious."

Fatigue was the diagnosis for the rest of the squad and Mowbray admitted: "There were a lot of tired limbs in the dressing room.

"Three of them (Gary Caldwell, Glenn Loovens and Willo Flood) had to play a full 90 minutes, which isn't ideal.

"It's the first game we've played, they are only 12 days back from their summer holidays, and they haven't really done a proper pre-season.

"Not many of them have been sleeping. They've been wide awake at 4am.

"But we try to create a culture were excuses are not allowed. We managed to win and we move on now.

"With this club, sometimes you lose a game somewhere down the line and it's like the wheels are falling off, which is never the case of course.

"This time, when we've won, it's just part of our preparation."