Celtic star David Turnbull explains lack of celebration to stunning strike was a mark of respect towards former club Motherwell

David Turnbull returned to his old stomping ground for the first time in front of supporters and unleashed a swerving strike from 25-yards fitting of winning any match.

The Celtic midfielder arrowed a ferocious strike high into the top left-hand corner during Saturday’s 2-0 win over Motherwell at Fir Park as the Hoops secured back-to-back domestic away wins.

A product of the Steelmen’s youth academy, Turnbull confirmed his muted celebration was a mark of respect towards his former club but insisted he was still beaming with pride.

The 22-year-old, who signed for Celtic in a £3.25million transfer last season, admits he had discussed with his family how he would handle the situation if the opportunity presented itself.

He said: “Everyone know what kind of club Motherwell are and how they helped me when I was younger, so I wanted to be respectful.

“I knew beforehand I wouldn’t celebrate because I spoke to my family about hit. They were asking me what I’d do if I scored and I told them I wouldn’t, I’d just leave it.

“Obviously I was hoping to score, but I didn’t want to celebrate too much. I felt like doing it because it’s a great feeling every time you score and that was no different, but I wasn’t going to do it.

“It was hard to stop myself, but I was delighted to put the ball in the top corner anyway. Hopefully I can score more of them in future and will be celebrating them as I want to.

“It was very different coming back this season with a crowd in. Last year I was on the bench and there were no fans inside the ground.

“Ever since the fixtures were announced I was looking forward to come back. It was good to be back, seeing all familiar faces from my time here.

“The most important thing was getting the three points.”

Filipe Jota had given Ange Postecoglou’s side a first-half lead before Turnbull killed off any hope of a Motherwell comeback in North Lanarkshire.

Turnbull feels Celtic are starting to turn a corner as they gained two points on leaders Rangers, who were held to a 1-1 draw against Hearts, but acknowledges there is still a lot of work to do.

He added: “It was a huge win for us. That’s two away wins in a row and everyone is buzzing.

“Things are starting to click, 100 per cent. The Aberdeen win was massive for us, so we need to go on a run now. If we keep playing well the results will come.

“You can feel the momentum building now. It has been two massive wins and we want to keep it going. We want to keep pushing on and doing our stuff.

“Things were stop-start after the last international break, boys came back injured and we didn’t have a full squad.

“People were just in the door as well, but we are more settled now and everyone is ready to play so it’s good.”