Celtic target vital victory ahead of Old Firm tie

TONY Mowbray has urged his Celtic side to make the Old Firm derby at the end of the month "interesting" by beating Dundee United in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League this weekend.

After cutting the gap behind Rangers to eight points by beating Hearts last Wednesday, Celtic blew a 4-2 lead to draw at Aberdeen on Saturday, allowing their arch-rivals to re-establish a ten-point cushion the following day.

Despite admitting Celtic's "disappointing performance on the park" under Mowbray had been responsible for the club announcing a dramatic drop in turnover and an increase in debt on Monday, chairman John Reid gave his manager his full backing.

Mowbray wants his players to help him justify that faith by seeing off United on Saturday ahead of the following Sunday's potentially season-defining trip to Ibrox. "We have to cope with the frustration of the draw at Aberdeen, stick together and move on," Mowbray explained.

"We now find ourselves in the same position as we did a few weeks ago, when we chipped a couple of points off Rangers' lead and then dropped points ourselves.

"What we have to do is get back to chipping the points away again. To do that, we need to get a positive result on Saturday against Dundee United and go into the Rangers game full of confidence.

"We were all disappointed after Saturday but if we win our next two games, it makes life very interesting. There are points to be won and lost – starting with our game against Dundee United. We will do everything we can to get a positive result."

Meanwhile, new Celtic defender Thomas Rogne reckons marking Robbie Keane in training will help take his own game to the next level.

Rogne, 19, and Keane were two of eight January signings made by Mowbray. Norwegian Rogne, who made his debut from the bench in last week's 2-0 Clydesdale Bank Premier League win over Hearts, grew up watching English football on television and has always been a huge admirer of Keane.

And he is pinching himself that he is now playing alongside the on-loan Tottenham striker and against him in training.

"To train with Robbie and all the other strikers at Celtic every day is perfect for me," Rogne told the Celtic View.

"There are a lot of good forwards at Celtic and playing against them can only make me better.

"I've watched Robbie play for years now and it's amazing to get the chance to work with him every day. He's one of the best strikers in the world and training with him will help me develop my game.

"It's really good to work with top-class players every day and that's what you get at Celtic. The training is at such a high level and I've enjoyed every minute of it."