St Johnstone hold no fear heading into Saturday afternoon’s league clash with Celtic.
That’s the message from Perth manager Tommy Wright, who was in Glasgow on Wednesday evening to watch the Scottish champions defeat Israeli side Hapoel Beer Sheva 5-2 in the Champions League play-off first-leg.
Saints have performed well against the Parkhead side in recent seasons, recording a 2-1 victory in the last meeting between the teams, and have found form in the early part of this campaign.
Northern Irishman Wright knows his McDiarmid men must take their chances when presented and said: “We know from experience where Celtic’s strengths lie and that is the same with every team we play.
“We have to set-up out of possession but we have to create chances and try to hurt them. You probably get fewer chances against the bigger teams, so you have to make the most of them.
“The game doesn’t frighten us in any way. It is a big test for us. But we look on it as a tough, tough challenge and one where we are capable of getting a result, as we have shown in the past.
“We won 2-1 towards the end of last season but that doesn’t mean much, apart from remembering they had a lot of possession early on and we kept the score to 1-0 and came back to win. That is really the only thing to take from it.
“You have to make sure you stay in the game and look to cause them a few problems.”
Wright was impressed with the football produced by Celtic during the week and reckons any potential squad changes from fellow Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers (below) won’t weaken the team.
“It was a good opportunity to see them and they were excellent, particularly in the first half,” he told the Perthshire Advertiser.
“I saw enough to know how tough it is going to be but Saturday is a different game. They have recruited well and with Scott Sinclair coming in they have more pace up top than they have had in previous years.
“And Brendan being the good manager that he is, he has got a response from players he inherited, like Scott Brown, who looks rejuvenated.
“They have got a good result in Europe with a three-goal cushion. With the depth of their squad, you can’t really second guess their team but it wouldn’t weaken the team.
“It was the same when Neil Lennon was the manager. They would play in Europe and get a good result and you might think he would rest a few. But he didn’t do it.
“Celtic played well but hopefully we will have a better shape than the Israelis had.”
Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths netted twice against Hapoel Beer Sheva on Wednesday and Wright is fully aware of the threat the Scottish internationalist will pose to Saints.
“Griffiths has proved consistently that he is a top striker and looking at him against the Israelis I’d say he is on course to be even better than he was last year,” Wright said.
“He was excellent. He looks stronger. We all know he will finish in the box but he is an intelligent player who is getting better and better.
“The next step up for him is to get playing regularly in the international team. He is a man in form and one we will have to watch.”
Providing an update on the injury front ahead of the weekend, Wright said: “Tam Scobbie is out for three or four weeks with knee injury but the international break is coming up.
“Chris Millar is seven to 10 days. It is a different area than the problem last year. It is a grade one tear. Keith Watson will train towards the end of next week and Michael Coulson will be the same.
“We have had a few injury problems with four or more out but we have started well and that shows the depth of the squad. The players that have come in have done well.”
Supporters should note that the match, which kicks-off at the earlier time of 12.15pm, is all-ticket and as Celtic have sold out their entire allocation of tickets there will be no ‘walk-up facility’ tomorrow. Admission is therefore by season ticket or pre-purchased match ticket only in ALL areas of the stadium.