Stokes turns attention to Swedes
The 25-year-old grabbed a double against the Staggies as the champions came back from conceding a second-minute goal to debutant Darren Maatsen.
Celtic lead Elfsborg 1-0 from the third qualifying round first-leg in Glasgow and the former Hibernian and Sunderland striker insists they are in good fettle as they look to progress into the play-offs in Sweden.
“It is probably the best we have played since we came back from pre-season after such a short off-season,” he said.
“The goal probably woke us up and we got at them for the rest of the game and made plenty of chances but we just didn’t take them.
“For long parts of the game I thought we might not get the goal (his 87th winner) but we kept at it and we broke them down eventually.
“There are a couple of us still getting up to 100% so it was a good workout against Ross County and we are looking forward to Wednesday.”
Gary Hooper’s move to Norwich means the onus has moved on to Stokes, at least until manager Neil Lennon brings in another striker.
The Dubliner was pleased to get up and running in the scoring stakes on the first day of the season.
He said: “The most important thing was the win but it is always good for the confidence to get off the mark so I am delighted.
“I have always said that you want to get over 20 goals every season and that’s my target, but I want to score as many as possible.
“It’s not like I want to get to 20 or 25, I want to push on this season and score as many as possible. It is simple as that.”
In yesterday’s action, Henri Anier marked his debut with an 83rd-minute winner as Motherwell piled more misery on Pat Fenlon’s Hibernian following their 7-0 thrashing by Malmo last week.
In the day’s other game, Stevie May’s first-half winner denied Hearts the chance to chip away the first small chunk of their 15-point penalty as they opened their Scottish Premiership campaign with a 1-0 defeat to St Johnstone.
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