Saints v Celtic Preview

Last updated : 23 February 2008 By Stuart Gillespie
It was an embarrassing day in September where we went with one striker, even when we were 3-0 down. Still, the week before we'd beaten Falkirk. When we went to Parkhead in December, we'd been hammered by the Bairns the week before and came away with a point! Perhaps we're going about things in the right way...

Don't be surprised if it's a return to one up front this week, with Billy Mehmet likely to be the man on his own after signing a new contract. The likes of Jim Hamilton and Craig Dargo will be on the bench, with Mark Corcoran probably on the left wing and pushing forward to support Mehmet when he can. As we don't have a right winger it'll probably be Stephen McGinn who plays there, which is a good thing as two of his three career goals have come against Celtic. With this being a game against the Old Firm, don't be surprised to see Garry Brady and Alan Reid suddenly appear from nowhere even though they don't get a game against everyone else.

The good news is that the Saints defence should hopefully be a bit tighter with Will Haining back from suspension. The former Oldham captain has been superb all season and we have really missed him when he has been injury. Unfortunately, the similarly impressive Gary Mason is still out - although he's back in training - while Richard Brittain and Stephen O'Donnell will be in the stand. Chris Smith has finally been released from hospital but is nowhere near ready for a return and probably won't be for a few weeks. That means Mark Howard will keep his place and will be looking to atone for his nightmare at Westfield last week.

Celtic will be looking to get a bit of frustration out of their system after narrowly losing to Barcelona on Wednesday night. Despite leading twice, they have it all to do at the Nou Camp and their chance may well have gone. Unfortunately, Saints are a completely different proposition to Barca - and not in a good way! If Celtic play like they did during the week, we're in big trouble.

They pose a threat from a variety of positions. Scott McDonald is in outstanding form up front while Aiden McGeady seems to be getting a lot of hype recently. Shunsuke Nakamura's freekicks are always a threat and the prospect of Barry Robson and Paul Hartley in the same team - two players who always do well against us - is a bit worrying.

Personally I don't think we have a chance tomorrow - this should be an easy Celtic win that will keep the pressure on their rivals Rangers, who will hopefully (for our sake) give Gretna a good thrashing.