Accies must be organised: Rice

Hamilton boss Brian Rice has warned his team they must be organised when they face champions Celtic.

Accies head into Saturday’s clash on the back of a strong performance in their 2-2 draw at Hearts prior to the international break.

But Rice knows they face a stern test when Neil Lennon’s free-scoring Celtic head to New Douglas Park.

He said: “We need to have a really, really good day and Celtic need to be a bit below par. And if that happens, you just never know in football.

“But if you don’t compete first and foremost then you’ve got no chance. So my message is: ‘We need to compete and we need to be organised’.

“Celtic will always cause you problems and always create chances. The last thing we need to do is to do anything stupid and make it easy for them.

“If they’re going to come here and be the Celtic we know they’re going to be, then we need to make it difficult for them and don’t make it too easy by doing stupid things on the pitch.”

Rice admits there is a fear factor surrounding Celtic and their Old Firm rivals Rangers, but he believes anything is possible in football.

He said: “I think in all my time in football people have always been scared of the Old Firm. They won’t say it. But for me personally, it’s very daunting playing against Celtic and Rangers when you see the form they’re in.

“But, at the end of the day, it’s 11 versus 11 and football’s got a habit of causing upsets.”

● Celtic winger Mikey Johnston has played down fears about the injury which forced him to withdraw from the Scotland Under-21s squad.

The 20-year-old missed the games against San Marino and Croatia after hurting his groin in the Hoops’ victory over fierce rivals Rangers before the international break.

He said: “I’ve just got a groin strain so I’ll miss the weekend’s game (at Hamilton) but I’ll hopefully be back after that.”