The extra derby motivation for Celtic

By Lewis Laird

April 30, 2022

Ange Postecoglou has very much proved his doubters wrong since arriving in Scotland.

The 56-year old arrived with little expectations in the media, and not many overseen or predicted the turnaround that this Celtic side has provided.

So the Celtic boss and his players will be hungry to put those doubters behind them once again on Sunday, after what was recently said about this side.

In the last Glasgow derby, just a matter of weeks ago, Celtic lost out to a place in the Scottish cup final, narrowly losing 2-1 in extra time.

The game was a closely contested affair, but it just wasn’t to be for Celtic on the afternoon.

The Hoops even had a chance to kill off the game at one point when Cameron Carter Vickers passed up the opportunity to put Celtic 2-0 up.

But, if you were to read the comments in the media after the game, it didn’t seem like that was the outcome or content of the game.

Many were questioning the ‘bottle’ of Ange and his side.

That question has been answered multiple times this season. But just for the avoidance of doubt, the players showed why that was false by bouncing back to produce a victory on the road in Dingwall last week.

So, going into this weekend’s game, I am sure Ange and his players will be fired up to prove those doubters wrong again.

They will be hungry to show why they deserve to be where they are now, sitting top of the Scottish Premiership, with a six-point advantage over Rangers.

No-one ‘handed’ us that position. We deserve to be where we are off merit and hard work, having gone unbeaten in the league since September.

If that doesn’t show the ‘bottle’ of this Celtic side, I’m not sure what does.

This weekend could provide an opportunity to take a step closer to bringing the Premiership title back to Parkhead.

And what a moment that would be for Ange and his players, after all they have been through this season.

In other news, why Celtic supporters should be really encouraged by summer reports.