Kennedy: Draw was jolt Celtic needed for semi

CELTIC’S ‘fright’ against Rangers will have them all the more ready to rumble with Rangers in their Scottish Cup semifinal clash.

That was the vow of Hoops coach John Kennedy as he predicted his players preparations will be more on point at Hampden on the back of Sunday’s 1-1 stalemate.

A Clint Hill strike in the closing minutes at Parkhead earned the visitors a point during the fourth Old Firm game of the season, bringing to a halt Celtic’s 22-game winning run in the league.

However, with Celtic eyeing an historic treble by also securing the Scottish Cup, Kennedy has warned the Premiership

leaders won’t turn in a repeat performance when the sides next meet on April 23.

The Celtic first team coach said: “It gives everyone a little reminder because when you are on such a high and getting result after result, sometimes a little fright can do you good.

“We never take any game lightly, especially a game against Rangers. It just gives a reminder that if we come off it even slightly and Rangers are on it, it’s going to be a game.

“It certainly gives us an eye-opener going into the semi-final. It wasn’t a case of us taking the foot of the gas. Our performance was just sub-par for the standards we’ve set.

“Every player out there was giving everything they had. Our objective now is to go into the next game, take care of Dundee, and the Rangers game will take care of itself when it comes around.”

Hill’s leveller led to wild celebrations in the away end at Celtic Park both in the immediate aftermath and at full-time from a jubilant Rangers support.

Kennedy acknowledged their Old Firm rivals did deserve a point, but pointed out that ultimately they fell two more points behind Aberdeen in the race to be best of the rest.

“They’ve been under pressure and come in for a lot of criticism this season so maybe that’s the reason they were celebrating,” he said. “People wrote them off before the game but we didn’t – in house, we were preparing as best as we could.

“Looking at the result in context, though, we’re still unbeaten in 35 domestic games while the reality for Rangers is they’ve fallen two points further behind Aberdeen and that gap has opened up

We’re 25 points ahead of Aberdeen in the league and 33 points clear of Rangers. We’ll just keep motoring on until we get the title wrapped up.”

Joh n Kennedy was speaking to promote the Henrik’s Heroes v Lubo’s Legends charity match on May 28 to fund dementia projects, tackle international poverty and fund local programmes. For more information visit www. celticfc.net