As ever, the answer is probably not. Celtic playing badly – not that they are, especially – will still be favourites to defeat Motherwell playing well although we can at least look to St Johnstone for some inspiration. They withstood an early barrage, enjoyed some luck when they needed it, and struck clinically on a rare break forward to hand Celtic a home defeat just a few weeks ago. And arguably our pace on the break means we should be ideally set up to pose them problems.
A happy day in April 2004
However, keeping ourselves in the contest must be our first priority. Against Rangers we had lots of the ball and even played nice football at times but overcommitted in a way which was simply suicidal. Losing a late third on the break was insignificant, being hit on the counter-attack to go in two rather than just one down at half time was fatal. While looking to play our own game and attack when possible, Stuart McCall must surely emphasise the need for discipline and organisation – both in possession and without the ball – before this encounter.
Injury wise Celtic are missing a handful of players but still have enough quality to pose us difficulties. Hooper is always a handful and Stokes is in good form while debutant Bangura is likely to be on the bench. He seems to be an absolutely wonderful talent but other recent purchases from the Allsvenska have not always coped well with the change to Scottish football so it remains to be seen if he can break the mould.
Our squad seems relatively healthy with Hutchinson the only doubt we know about. McCall seems reluctant to share injury information when it is neither obvious nor necessary so there could yet be a nasty surprise in the run-up to kick off.
On the face of it, we have an eleven which should be capable of giving Celtic a good game. A repeat of the victory gained by Mark McGhee’s men at Parkhead would be wonderful but on this occasion we may have to settle for pride, if not points, in a 1-0 defeat.
Remember our last visit to Parkhead?