Defiance from Celtic after Hampden blow

By John McGinley

April 18, 2022

It’s been a long 24 hours for Celtic supporters after losing to Rangers in Sunday’s semi-final at Hampden but the message from the club is that they’ll fight for what’s left on the table.

The 2-1 defeat was undoubtedly a sore one, especially since you can’t say our performance deserved a positive result.

The players have had many more good days than bad this season, but yesterday was a big one for supporters and the Bhoys simply didn’t live up to the standards they’ve set.

Callum McGregor and Ange Postecoglou have both defiantly stated they’ll be looking to use the disappointment as motivation after watching Rangers celebrate.

Now Joe Hart is the latest to let fans know there’s no reason to expect they’ll go off the rails.

He told CelticFC.com: “We’re humble in victory and we will be humble in defeat. At the end of the day, we have stuff to play for, we’ve got supporters to show up for, we’ve got a club to represent and just because we have lost this game that won’t change.

“It was a tough game. We had chances to put them away, we didn’t take them and ultimately that’s the story of the game.

“There’s still plenty to play for. We put on a good show but not a great showing to win the game. Over the course of the season, we still have stuff to fight for and we are looking forward to that fight.

“We are out of the cup so we can only learn from it and use it as fuel to go on. We’ve got an obvious mission between now and the end of the season and we want to complete that.”

Actions are obviously more meaningful than words, but this team have earned the right to be trusted and believed when they say they’ll bounce back.

Ross County was already a massive game on the calendar but it’s even bigger now. A victory really sets us up for a pleasing end to the season despite what happened yesterday.

In other news, The post-match Hampden moment that tells us today’s derby defeat won’t derail Celtic’s season.