Viljami Sinisalo's form for Exeter ensured Gary Woods spent last season sitting on the bench. Which makes the experienced goalkeeper a good judge of the man who is about to be thrust between the sticks for Celtic . Woods worked directly with the young Finland international on a daily basis in training then spent matchdays with a front row seat as Sinisalo shone. But the former Aberdeen and Kilmarnock shotstopper wasn’t the slightest bit surprised to see his glove rival win a £1million move to Celtic off the back of his heroics on loan from Aston Villa. More than that, Woods got an insight into the character of the 23-year-old which makes him confident he’s ready to step into the breach for Celtic with Kasper Schmeichel injured. And ready to stake his claim to be the Hoops’ number one long-term. Woods, now at Morton where he doubles up as goalie coach, said: “Viljami was fantastic with some match-winning performances. A really nice lad, really good pro, works hard, wants to learn, self-critical. You could just see him grow in stature as the season went on. “So I really wasn't surprised when he got the move to Celtic. Good shotstopper. One of his strongest points was one-on-ones. He had a really, really good technique coming out one-on-one. “Not only that, I think he's got the temperament to play for Celtic. He backs himself and his ability. But in a good way, no arrogance. He knows he's a good goalkeeper but he backed it up with his performances last season. “Viljami takes accountability also. As a goalkeeper, when things are going well it's fine. But it’s important you can hold your hand up and go, ‘listen, that's on me lads’. “He's a Finland international at a young age and he's got the Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky there to learn off as well, so he's had real good schooling. "At Celtic he's got an outstanding goalie coach in Stevie Woods. I don't think you can get a much better mentor than him in the goalie world. “Then you've got Kasper Schmeichel, what a goalkeeper to learn off every day. Scott Bain as well. It's a fantastic group of goalkeepers he's got there that will be pushing each other every day. “Celtic were smart to bring him in as a younger one to learn from them and build forwards - and hopefully in the future become Celtic's number one. “Would I back him to be Celtic's number one in the future? Of the evidence that I saw in my year with him, then yeah. But only he can determine whether he becomes Celtic's number one or not.” Woods knows playing for Celtic is a completely different ball game to League One Exeter where Sinisalo made 50 appearances and kept 14 clean sheets. But under former Parkhead defender Gary Caldwell there were some similar traits that he reckons will stand the keeper in good stead ahead of his expected Premiership debut against Hearts. He said: “Celtic are a possession-based, dominant team that have a lot of the ball. At Celtic has he got the concentration to make that one big save that's needed? “Can he play out from the back? What's his range of passing like? Will he take the ball under pressure? “At Exeter, we did try and play possession-based football under Gary Caldwell. At times, we were absolutely fantastic at it. It's not new to him. He's come from unbelievable stock at Aston Villa under Unai Emery. So he'll be able to handle the ball. “His form meant I only played twice last season. But that is goalkeeping. “You've got one shirt and at the end of the day if the goalkeeper is doing well then there's nothing you can do. You keep pushing him and that's what you want to do and you want to keep doing that every day. If he's performing on a weekend then there's nothing you can do. “But when someone moves on to where he has gone to and how well he's done you hope that you've played a part in that and helping him along the way and pushing him in training. “He's a real great personality so I really hope that it does work out for him.” Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On , every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.