Clarke hits back at Celtic manager over ‘silly line’

Kilmarnock boss Steve Clarke has told Brendan Rodgers his “silly” comparison of the Rugby Park side with a bunch of firemen is not befitting of a Celtic manager.

The Northern Irishman was frustrated by Killie’s tactics as they held out for a 0-0 draw on Wednesday, claiming his team would have found it hard to break down “11 firemen that deep on a pitch”.

Clarke hit back, insisting it was not his job to make life easier for the Ladbrokes Premiership champions.

The Kilmarnock manager said: “If you look at the majority of what Brendan said, it was correct and proper, but that (firefighter) line wasn’t really befitting of a Celtic manager.

“It wasn’t so much disrespectful, it was just a silly line to use in what was quite an honest post-match analysis of the game.

“We don’t have to go there and play the way Celtic want us to.

“We went there to play the way that is best for us to get a result. It’s my job as a manager to set my players up in a way that gives us the best chance of getting a positive result, and that’s what we did.

“If you are the team with 73% of the possession then it’s what you do with it that counts, and on the night Celtic didn’t do enough.

“They only had one shot on target, which for that amount of possession I’d think would be disappointing for Brendan and his team.

“If he wants to insinuate that Celtic could not have broken down 11 amateur players, which is what he was insinuating, then I think he underestimates his own abilities as a coach and the ability of his players because I’m pretty sure Celtic would beat 11 firemen.”

Clarke’s side round off a remarkable campaign when they host Hearts tomorrow.

Hamilton boss Martin Canning has no fresh injury concerns ahead of their final Ladbrokes Premiership game of the season at Motherwell today.

Lewis Ferguson (knock), Georgios Sarris (ankle), Gary Woods (knock) and Alex Gogic (knee) remain out.

Motherwell are likely to rest a number of players ahead of next week’s Scottish Cup final, with Cedric Kipre (hand), Curtis Main (wrist), Carl McHugh (rib) and Liam Grimshaw (knee) nursing injuries.