'Watching Rangers win any game is too painful' says Darren O'Dea

"No, I don't watch them (Rangers]," he said, when asked if he had taken advantage of the opportunity to run the rule over this evening's opponents. "It's not because I was thinking 'we should be there' because we didn't do enough to get to the final. But watching Rangers win any game is tough. It's just too painful."

With Rangers preoccupied with trying to make their way into the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, victory against Gus MacPherson's side would allow Celtic to reduce the gap at the top of the table to seven points before the Ibrox club return to league duty this weekend and while it is unlikely to be enough to see them seriously challenge for the title, O'Dea is keen to apply as much pressure as possible. The Ibrox club are still in with a chance of winning the domestic treble, and while O'Dea and his cohorts look to have a more realistic chance of sabotaging that ambition in the Scottish Cup, the 23-year-old defender is refusing to bow out of the league challenge without more of a fight.

"I don't think about the Treble. It's up to them what they do," he says. "We are in a cup and there are plenty points in the league still to be won. The fans have probably got a bit frustrated this season and rightly so. It's up to us to give something back to them. Things haven't gone to plan. But recently we have looked good and strong on the pitch. We need to carry that on until the end of the season."

Against a St Mirren team who threw everything at Rangers on Sunday but could not convert any of the chances they created, the Celtic defence will be buoyed by their recent run of three consecutive clean sheets. An area of the team which has proved permeable throughout the campaign, four shut-outs in their past five games means there is finally growing confidence in the Celtic rearguard. O'Dea is one name on a lengthy list of players who have turned out at centre-half for manager Tony Mowbray this season. The criticism in some quarters is that inconsistency in selection has undermined Celtic defensive steeliness. "If we keep clean sheets, with the attacking players we have in this team, you are almost guaranteed to score goals," says O'Dea, "but we have not done that enough and dropped points because of that."

While some of the selection inconsistencies have been self- imposed by Mowbray, the squad has also been dogged by injuries. Centre-back Jos Hooiveld and midfielder Paddy McCourt were given a run-out in a bounce game yesterday as they attempt to regain full fitness and, despite weekend reports claiming Shaun Maloney's season is over, the Celtic manager says he is still hopeful the winger will feature during the run-in.

He revealed that, along with Hooiveld, he has had to rein the Scotland international in at times. Mowbray added: "Some players let nature take care of itself and just go through the rehab and when they are ready, they're ready, but other players push and push and push and they are never away from the training ground, they're always in the gym. Jos falls into that category, along with Shaun, and sometimes there's a balance to be had."

While O'Dea and Josh Thompson are expected to start this evening's match in the heart of the Celtic defence, Mowbray was waiting to see if the Dutchman's injury suffered any reaction to his run-out in the bounce match before deciding whether to involve him in the squad.