Celtic desperate to play down Old Firm clash

December 26, 2009

Spain midfielder Marc Crosas has told his Celtic team-mates to concentrate on their upcoming game against Hamilton and put the New Year Old Firm derby to the back of their minds.

The Hoops face rivals Rangers on January 3 but have games against Billy Reid’s side on Saturday and Kilmarnock to contend with first.

Celtic slipped four points behind Rangers in the race for the Scottish Premier League title with a 2-1 defeat at Hearts last weekend.

Crosas has warned his colleagues not to be so focused on the Old Firm clash in case they slip up again and find themselves further behind.

But the former Barcelona star insists that no matter what happens over the festive period, these games will not determine who is going to win the league.

“The Christmas period isn’t going to decide who wins the title, but whoever comes out on top will be in a better position,” he said.

“We have three very important games coming. Everybody will be talking about the Rangers game, but if we don’t get positive results against Hamilton and Kilmarnock, winning the derby would be for nothing.

“The games are all equally important and if we can come out of the Christmas fixtures in a good position, we will be set up for the second half of the season.

“It has been a frustrating season so far. I think we have played well in most of our games and had some great wins, but we haven’t always got what we deserved. That’s been disappointing.”

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray will be without Scott Brown and Shaun Maloney due to injury and Gary Caldwell will miss the match against Hamilton through suspension after he was red-carded in the defeat to Hearts.

A win for the Hoops would reduce the gap at the top and heap pressure on Rangers who don’t take on Hibernian at Easter Road until Sunday.

Walter Smith’s side are in good form having scored 15 goals in the past four league games but face a resurgent Hibs side under new boss John Hughes.

The former Falkirk boss has led the Edinburgh side to third in the league and Smith warned of the dangers awaiting his side at Easter Road following a 1-1 draw at Ibrox earlier in the season.

“Hibs are going extremely well this year, but, regardless of circumstances, a trip to Easter Road is difficult for any Rangers team,” Smith said.

“We went there at the end of last season and found it tough. They ended up being influential in where the championships ended up.

“Fortunately, we went on to win it, but this season they’re gaining in confidence and are playing very well. We had a game with Hibernian at Ibrox earlier in the season and it was excellent.

“It could have gone either way, and although we ended up having far more opportunities to score, they could have sneaked it at the end.

“Hopefully, we’ll have another game like that this weekend, and from our point of view we’ll get a better result than we did last time out.”

Smith will be without midfielder Kevin Thomson for the game through injury.

Elsewhere on Saturday managerless Dundee United take on Kilmarnock, bottom club Falkirk play Hearts, Motherwell host St Johnstone and St Mirren are at home to Aberdeen.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless otherwise stated)

Saturday

Celtic v Hamilton, Dundee United v Kilmarnock, Falkirk v Hearts, Motherwell v St Johnstone, St Mirren V Aberdeen

Sunday

Hibernian v Rangers (1200)

GLASGOW (AFP)

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