So Neil Lennon and Celtic’s latest Hampden challenge comes when we face St. Mirren in the league cup semi-final, with the winner meeting Hearts in the final. Even though Celtic have comfortably defeated St. Mirren twice this season – 5-0 and 2-0 – this will be a difficult game, as St. Mirren have nothing to lose and as we have already discussed Celtic’s record at Hampden recently is not that great.
Regarding team news, Fraser Forster is still out, so Zaluska – who had a couple of hairy moments against Dundee Utd in midweek – will continue in goal, and Kris Commons is still a doubt, so perhaps the froward line of Lassad, Samaras and Hooper, who combined very well at times in midweek, will start. In defence, Kelvin Wilson has returned from suspension so it seems likely he will play alongside Charlie Mulgrew at the back.
Despite the fact that St. Mirren haven’t even scored a goal against Celtic since Tony Mowbray’s last game as Celtic manager, Celtic will be in for a tough game today. The likes of Steven Thompson and new signing Esmael Goncalves have the potential of causing Celtic problems, and you only have to look at recent cup upsets involving Bradford, Swansea and Luton gaining shock victories shows that Celtic have to be on their guard. If Celtic play to their ability this should be a comfortable victory, but we’ve had enough problems at Hampden recently to know that this might not be the case. But let’s hope at the end of the day Celtic manage to put their past Hampden woes behind them and get to the final.
