manager: hoops up for title fight

David Friel
CELTIC manager Gordon Strachan was delighted to be crowned Manager of the Month for April but the Hoops boss has his sights set on a bigger prize – the SPL title.

After five wins on the bounce, Celtic have moved to the top of the table and another win against Hibernian tomorrow (Sunday) will ensure that the title race will at least go to the final round of fixtures – on May 22.

As he accepted the award and previewed Sunday’s match, the manager stressed that winning is all that counts at this stage of the season and insisted his players are eager to maintain their run of victories.

“I said about two months ago that if the title race was still going on the last day, then that would be great,” said the Celtic manager. “It’s great for the fans, everybody…apart from your nearest rivals.

“We believed that we could do that, but I’ll say again though, that during our sticky period – when we weren’t getting results – we were playing terrific football. But that didn’t make a good story.

“Since we started winning games, the football hasn’t been great. But it’s been good of the players to believe.

“It’s been a new type of management – it’s been a bit different, but I think you can see that the players and coaches have relished the challenge. I hope it goes right to the wire, so we can get a bit of excitement going.”

Hibernian will provide a stern test for Celtic. The sides have met three times this season and there is nothing to separate them. Celtic have won one game. Hibs have won one and the other match was drawn.

“Over the last few years, Hibs have always been tough opponents,” said the manager. “This year has been no different – they’ve been tough opponents for us and for most teams this year.

“We would like the title race to go to the last game of the season, but Hibs will be out to beat us and we have to be ready for that.

“We know how difficult it’s going to be, because they made it hard for Rangers last week and I expect the same on Sunday.

“It’s our last home game of the season, but it doesn’t matter if it’s our first, last or one in the middle – we’re expected to win every game.”

The manager will check the fitness of Andreas Hinkel and Stephen McManus before finalising his line-up for Sunday’s match. Mark Wilson, Paul Caddis, Bobo Balde and Darren O’Dea are all in contention to deputise should the duo miss out.

He also admitted that the strength of his squad is giving him some welcome dilemmas, with Scott Brown and Georgios Samaras among those pushing for a starting slot.

“Scott and Georgios are two exceptionally good players,” he said. “But we’ve got a lot of good players missing out at the moment.

“Scott is going to be a terrific player, there is no doubt about that. At the moment, though, he got himself suspended and that’s been the problem for him.”