Ross County manager Jim McIntyre has challenged his players to pile further misery on Celtic when they host the Premiership champions tomorrow.
The Hoops make the trip to Dingwall on the back of a dismal 2-1 Europa League defeat against Norwegian side Molde on Thursday, which leaves their chances of progressing in Europe hanging by a thread.
Ronny Deila’s side remain six points clear of Hearts at the top of the league, and McIntyre warned his players must be on top form to cause an upset at Victoria Park.
McIntyre said: “Celtic had a poor result on Thursday and that will make them all the more determined.
“International players are used to playing high-profile games in quick succession. They’ve been doing it for a number of years now and their bodies get used to it, both physically and mentally.
“Every time they have had a poor result they’ve bounced back really well. That’s something we’ve got to guard against.
“Any time we play the Old Firm, we’ve got to start the game well. We’ve got to be compact and disciplined, but still have an attacking threat and intent to try to win the game.
“They are motoring and scoring goals freely. They look dangerous and we’ve got to make sure we combat that. But these are the games which players want to play in. The champions coming to our home ground is a game players look forward to – I certainly do.”
Celtic were 2-0 winners when the sides last met, on the opening day of the season at Parkhead, although McIntyre was encouraged by his side’s performance, and added: “Celtic have a lot of the play, and they spend it attacking teams, so there are opportunities to counter attack. That’s something we’ve got to try to exploit.
“That’s what we tried to do in Glasgow, and we got in behind them a few times. We just found Craig Gordon in very good form that day, although if the referee had made the right decision they would have lost him when he brought down Jackson Irvine.
“We did give away a penalty in the first three minutes, but what pleased me that day was we didn’t crumble. We stuck to our task.
“Sometimes when teams lose an early goal like that the plan goes out the window, and players lose discipline, we never did.”