Ross County manager Jim McIntyre is wary of a Celtic backlash for the second time this season when he takes his team to Parkhead this afternoon.
Celtic cruised to a 5-0 win in the last meeting of the sides at Victoria Park in October, a match which followed the Hoops’ 1-0 home defeat against Hamilton.
Ronny Deila’s side was beaten 2-1 by Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.
Celtic have not lost successive league games since County defeated them 3-2 at Victoria Park in March 2013, which followed up a 2-1 away loss at Motherwell and McIntyre, pictured, knows there will be a stern response from the cham-pions.
He said: “It’s twice we’ll have faced them after they have lost a Premiership match.
“We played them after they lost to Hamilton, and that one certainly didn’t go too well.
“Celtic have a quality side and even on Sunday against Dundee United, they created a lot of good chances.
“They always will because that’s the type of players they have.
“Nothing changes when teams go to Parkhead. We will need every one of our players to perform at their best and defend for our lives.
“When we do have the opportunities we must take them.
“It’s possible to get results anywhere. We’ve got to go there with that belief but we will have to do everything right.
“We can’t gift anything because it could be a long afternoon if we lose an early goal.
“We’re not stupid. We know they’ve got quality players. We need every one of our players to have a great game – any team will need its goalkeeper to have a great game for a match at Parkhead or Ibrox.
“They’ve got international players but they can be beaten.”
County are determined to bounce back from last week’s 1-0 defeat against Hamilton Accies, but Mc-Intyre warned his players must be more clinical in front of goal if they are to get any sort of result this afternoon.
McIntyre added: “If a team is on a string of positive results, players don’t think about things and put the ball in the back of the net.
“We’re creating good chances but need to take a higher percentage of them. We’ve got to be more ruthless. I’m sick of saying it.”
County start and finish a six-match run in January against Highland rivals Inverness and Slovakian midfielder Filip Kiss added: “The best way is to be positive – if we lose it’s good to have a game coming up soon and when we win we are on a good run so players want to play again and move up the table.
“It’s going to be a massive month and every game is going to be hugely important for our season.”
Even on Sunday against Dundee United, they created a lot of good chances