Celtic midfielder Tom Rogic is hoping to put a “nightmare” stage of his career behind him and earn a regular spot in the Celtic first-team this season.

The Australia international moved to the Scottish champions in January 2013 from Central Coast Mariners and produced some impressive performances from the eight appearances made.

The 22-year-old was tipped to make a big impact in the next season but the midfielder suffered a serious groin injury which forced a long spell on the sidelines.

The highly-rated Aussie ended up missing the World Cup in Brazil and the Socceroos’ Asian Cup triumph as he battled through the severe pain.

However, Rogic is now back to full fitness and the midfielder is hoping he can impress head coach Ronny Deila enough to earn a regular spot in the first-team this season.

“It was a bit of a nightmare,” he said. “I don’t want to get into it too much. I had a serious groin injury. I feel I’ve come out the other side of that.

“It was a pretty testing time. I never thought it would be as long as it was. It’s hard to put into words, it was pretty difficult. But that’s past me now. I just want to be positive and look to the future.”

Rogic impressed in Celtic’s 2-0 friendly win over Den Bosch in midweek and started again in their 5-3 defeat by Dukla Prague on Saturday, despite the return of nine players who had been given extra time off because of international duty.

The Bhoys are big favourites to retain the Scottish title this season at 1.03 while Aberdeen are the closest rivals at a price of 21.00.