Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart makes 'we are not complacent' vow after securing cup final date with Rangers
Need a reason to prevent minds drifting towards a cup final meeting with your fiercest rivals? How about an appointment with the only Scottish team to beat Celtic this season to concentrate minds.
St Mirren did what no other team has managed to do in domestic football so far this campaign in September when they inflicted a defeat on the champions. Not even Rangers, who face Celtic in the final of the Viaplay Cup at the end of February, have been able to come out on top in two meetings to date, with the third scheduled for a hopefully re-turfed Hampden Park on 26 February.
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Hide AdUntil then, Celtic have six league games to negotiate. They are seeking to at least maintain their nine-point lead over Rangers and, ideally, increase it.
The danger of some casualness creeping needs to be acknowledged although it wasn’t in evidence on Saturday, as Celtic were forced to fight to withstand the efforts of a Kilmarnock side who pushed them all the way. Next up are St Mirren, victors that afternoon in September when Joe Hart saw two goals flash by him either side of half time.
“St Mirren deserved to do it on the day,” reflected the goalkeeper as he looked ahead to the re-match at Celtic Park. “But a lot has happened since then. We take care of every game as it comes. The strong encouragement here is not to live in the past. If we’re going to concentrate on the past, there is a lot more good than bad. But we don’t rest on our laurels.”
The St Mirren defeat was a reminder of what can happen if performance levels slip slightly although Hart has stressed that it was more about what St Mirren did than what Celtic did not do on that afternoon in question.
“Honestly, we are not a complacent group,” he said. “This football team is not complacent. We didn’t lose that game because we were complacent. We lost because St Mirren deserved to beat us on the day.
“There were just moments in that game where they got the better of us. It was really quite that simple. I don’t think we were particularly terrible. St Mirren executed their plan really well and we were a little bit off it. I don’t think we are going to go too deep into it. We believe that, no matter what moment in the game, no matter what opposition, whether that be St Mirren or away in the Bernabeu, we have proven that we are going to play our way.”
Hart is still thawing out after Hampden. Although he was not called into action on a regular basis, he did make three top-class saves to deny Kilmarnock. “Oh my, that was cold,” he said. “I thought Killie were good. They made it difficult for us. Tough conditions, tough pitch. They’re not excuses. They’re facts. They played a good game. We stuck to the plan and scored important goals at important times and we’re in the final.”