Easter Road side have the potential to finish in second place in the Premiership, says Gordon

HIBERNIAN

V CELTIC

There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth at Ibrox last season when Rangers, in their first season in the Premiership, could only finish third behind Celtic and Aberdeen.

It would now appear that whoever the Ibrox directors persuade to take the vacant manager’s job, the new man could find the club again struggling to remain in the top three.

Last weekend, in the wake of a 1-0 win over Partick Thistle, Hibernian goalkeeper Ofir Marciano insisted that Neil Lennon’s side had the potential to finish as runners-up to champions Celtic, who visit Easter Road tomorrow afternoon.

It is an opinion shared by Celtic and Scotland keeper Craig Gordon, although he points out that a team which wins at Ibrox and draws at Parkhead should not be dropping four points to Hamilton.

“I think if they can find the consistency to play regularly at their best then they would have a chance of [a top-three finish] because, on their day, they can match anybody and get results,” said the 34-yearold. “They have quality players, especially at the top end of the park. They are dangerous opponents who’ve been doing reasonably well recently after getting used to playing topflight football again.

“In terms of how they play,

the way they work the ball and try to create openings, they’re definitely one of the better teams, so this should be an attractive game.

“We’ll need to be at it because this is another big test. They’ve given us two hard games already and it always seems to be the case that we play them immediately after a European tie.

“This will be the third time in a row this season that’s happened and that makes it even more difficult because they are a very good team and they continually try to put you under pressure.

“People say they haven’t scored enough goals but, when you look through their team sheet, there is no shortage of threats from all sorts of areas. We’ll need to be on our game and wary of their danger men.

“I played against Neil but I’m getting to the stage of my career where I keep coming up against managers I played against.

“He had a successful time here as manager and he’s

“They [Hibs] are dangerous opponents who’ve been doing reasonably well recently after getting used to playing top-flight football again”

now brought Hibs up from the Championship and established them in the top half of the table.”

Celtic had Gordon to thank for a save from Steven Whittaker during the 2-2 draw between the sides in Glasgow on 30 September which kept their undefeated domestic sequence, which now stands at 67 games, intact.

“We ground out a draw that day, really,” he conceded. “We weren’t at our best but we found a way to keep the run going, which is what we’ve