THEIR place in next season's UEFA Cup has been secured, but that is no
reason for Celtic's players to ease off. After all, it's not as though
they have had a memorable season.
Having lost 3-1 to Hibernian on Saturday, all of the players should
have volunteered for a Sunday shift on the training ground -- perhaps
they did, although they may have preferred to stay indoors with the
curtains drawn -- but no matter how each coped with the trauma of that
Easter Road defeat, it will be necessary this evening to prove they are
not already thinking ahead to the summer holidays.
More significantly, it will be essential, if they have enough
professional pride, to demonstrate they are worthy of the loyalty shown
by the supporters, many of whom won't be able to afford summer breaks,
and in an attempt to freshen the side, Liam Brady has drafted in Stuart
Gray, the 19-year-old son of the former Scottish internationalist,
Eddie, for tonight's game against Falkirk.
Gray Jr, a left-sided midfield player, will be involved against the
Brockville side as will Jamie McQuilken and Barry Smith. Mike Galloway
is free from suspension, but Tony Mowbray and Tommy Boyd are injured.
Celtic have messed up too often this season and after Saturday, Brady
did not spare the feelings of his players one or two of whom may not
feature tonight. The manager said yesterday he is anxious to avoid a
repeat of the errors which led to the goals scored by Hibernian.
It will be an extremely determined Falkirk side which will go to
Celtic Park, but even if they are scrambling to retain their top-flight
status, Brady's team should be good enough to remind everyone they are
still a force in the domestic game. Finishing second to Rangers is the
best they can be this season and therefore they ought to be striving to
overtake Aberdeen, who play at Firhill.
If Aberdeen drop a point Rangers, who will be away preparing for their
Champions League match against CSKA Moscow, will become premier-division
champions for the fifth time, but the Pittodrie side are unwilling to
assist. ''Rangers can win the title off their own bat. They'll get no
help from us,'' said Aberdeen's assistant manager Roy Aitken.
''We want to win as many points as possible and close the gap on
Rangers. We have been the main challengers all season and want to keep
it that way.''
Aitken added that it was important to keep the momentum going
throughout the weeks leading up to the Scottish Cup final and although
Aberdeen thrashed Thistle 7-0 last time at Firhill, they don't
anticipate a similar scoreline.
Paul Kane, available after suspension, could be brought back into the
side which lost two soft goals to Hearts on Saturday while Thistle will
be hoping to tighten up themselves after their 3-1 defeat at Ibrox.
It would do Airdrie no harm at all if they could close the back door,
but it does look as though they have lost their struggle to remain in
the premier division. They were beaten 3-0 at Tannadice last time out
and with only four matches left they are on 26 points, one behind
Falkirk, and two adrift of Motherwell, who have a game in hand.
The Broomfield side are at home to Hibs, who have scored six in their
last two matches.
Elsewhere, Dundee and Dundee United meet at Dens Park while Motherwell
are at home to Hearts.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article