Celtic face sobering festive period, says Hinkel

Andreas Hinkel said the next month could be vital to Celtic’s title challenge after he helped his side back to the top of the Scottish Premier League with a 3-0 win over 10-man Aberdeen on Saturday.

Rivals Rangers had temporarily gone top with a 3-1 win over Falkirk in the early kick-off match which heaped the pressure on the Hoops.

But Celtic responded with what was their third win in a week at Parkhead which keeps them two points above Rangers, who have a game in hand, in the race for the title.

Celtic face their Glasgow rivals in the Old Firm derby at Parkhead on January 3 and Hinkel has targeted maximum points from their next four league matches to try and ensure the Hoops go into the game top of the table.

“This month is going to be very important for us with some hard games before the Rangers game,” the German said.

“It’s important that we take full points from them – that is the goal we have.

“The next two games, away to Motherwell and Hearts, could be vital. They are tough games but I think we can win these games and we have to.”

Against Aberdeen Marc Crosas picked out Hinkel on the right and his low ball across the box was met by Australian striker Scott McDonald, who fired the ball into the net off Langfield for the opener.

Georgios Samaras scored a double either side of Jerel Ifil’s sending off for violent conduct and Glenn Loovens and Niall McGinn saw efforts cleared off the line as Celtic ran riot in the second-half.

New Celtic manager Tony Mowbray and his team have come in for criticism this season as they struggled for form with just two wins out of ten in all competitions before their recent hat-trick of wins.

And though happy with the win, Mowbray is not about to change his habit of balancing out praise of his team with their shortcomings.

“You are never totally satisfied as a coach but there were plenty of pleasing things today,” Mowbray said.

“There have been periods of the season where we’ve been very good but that has been punctured as we’ve gone along by the odd game where we’ve dropped points.

“This week we’ve had a bit of consistency as we won three games but I have seen consistency in the performance for a few weeks.

“Management is not here to be enjoyed. I’m here to hopefully get the best out my players and at times of difficulty keep the group together and keep them believing.

“When things are going well my job is to keep their feet on the ground.

“We need to keep going because it’s a long season and at the end of the day I understand the next time we drop points it will be a crisis again.”

At Parkhead Aberdeen were reduced to 10 men in the 56th minute when Ifil saw red for violent conduct after lashing out at Samaras with his boot after the pair contested a high ball.

Mark McGhee was furious with his defender and said it may cost him his place in the side.

“If there is such a thing as a double red card then he should have got it,” the Dons boss said.

“It was stupid and reckless. It was lazy. The boy has been playing well but Zander Diamond is only a couple of weeks away from fitness.

“He might lose his place in the side because of this. I have no complaints about it apart from with him.”