Scott Bain admits this season has been “strange” as he looks to cement his place as Celtic’s number one keeper.

The 29-year-old Scotland international, who initially signed on loan from Dundee in January 2018 fell out of the picture last season when on-loan Fraser Forster dominated the position with Craig Gordon also in the squad.

When both Forster and Gordon left in the summer, Celtic signed Greece international Vasilis Barkas from AEK Athens for a reported fee of around £5million but his lack of form saw him replaced by Bain with youngster Conor Hazard breaking through before the end of the year.

All three keepers have been used this year but Bain was reinstated as number one by boss Neil Lennon against Hamilton last week – his first appearance since November – and kept his place for the 2-1 defeat by St Mirren on Saturday.

Asked to sum up his season so far as he prepared for the trip to Kilmarnock on Tuesday night, Bain said: “Strange, it has been a strange one, difficult, I have been out and I have been in, out the squad again and back in again.

“It has been a strange one but I have tried to keep going, training every day and keep my motivation high, keep my confidence as high as I possibly can through my own actions at training every day.

“Hopefully I can get a run of games put together and help build my confidence going forward.

“It was difficult last year as well.

“But I always come into training every day with a smile on my face and try towork hard and keep my attitude right, as hard as it can be, as low as you can get, but I feel that maybe the fact that I have kept working hard and kept my attitude right the whole time has led me to  getting back in the team.”