One of the reasons we are struggling now is the midfield and we will be hampered further by the absence of Scott Leitch. In a game where we will have much less possession and will be forced to close down our opponents, the Captain will be strongly missed. Uncle Phil and Stepover may be fit enough to return, if not Shaun Fagan might get a chance to impress in the middle of the park. Hopefully Kevin McBride will have a lot to prove to his former employees but it is difficult to see him making a difference if he is playing in the centre of midfield.
Up front we still have no real alternative to the McDonald and Clarkson partnership and we will have to hope they return to form. It would be a great time for them to find their scoring touch again but just as important to our efforts will be their ability to hold the ball up. We’ll need them to relieve the pressure on our defence and the Celtic back line is still one of the weakest areas of the team. If we could sneak a lead, it will put a lot of pressure on Celtic and their large support could count against them.
Celtic have Hartson and Sutton to play against our defence and given how we have failed to cope with the height of Graham Bayne and Kris Boyd, this is a cause for grave concern. We have lost five goals to Celtic this season and only one has come from that pair – something we will need to work hard to keep the same after Saturday!
Can we do it? We showed at
