Strachan singles out 'terrific' McGeady for some rare praise

HE DIDN'T exactly labour the point but Gordon Strachan broke a habit of a lifetime and had some warm words of praise yesterday for Aiden McGeady. Previously, the manager has been painfully slow to single out his winger for special mention, normally uttering some perfunctory stuff regardless of the brilliance McGeady may have displayed. Last night was a little different.

"Aiden was terrific," he said. "Absolutely terrific. As an individual he was outstanding." That was the extent of it but nobody present could remember Strachan saluting McGeady in that way. Maybe the cold war is over. Maybe we're now living in a time of peace. If so, it's only sensible because McGeady has a lot to offer Celtic. He was like a dervish all day.

"I'm sure his marker (Darren McCormack) wasn't too happy to see Aiden running at him time after time," said Scott McDonald, later.

The black spot on Celtic's day was the continuing story of their iffy defending. They have shipped eight goals in their last four games. Hibs were not at their best but they picked away all day and caused problems through the middle. At no stage did Stephen McManus and Gary Caldwell look cosy.

Asked if he was disappointed at giving up a terrible goal, Strachan merely replied, "yes", before adding: "It's a very simple question and it's a very simple answer." Not a very simple solution, though. "It doesn't make me happy," he said of the errors. "I thought we'd done a fair bit of work on it. We need to come up with an answer."

Strachan said that a sore knee was the reason he replaced McManus after an hour's play. "Yeah, he hurt his knee. But you know Mick. He says he'll be fine."

For Celtic, next stop is a Co-Operative Insurance Cup semi-final with Dundee United at Hampden. The manager will be hoping for a continuation of his team's attacking play with a little more defensive ballast.