Two goal McDonald says
he'll relish Ibrox trip
Aberdeen took an early lead against the Bhoys in the SPL tussle at Pittodrie today before Dons defender Andrew Considine deflected a Gary Caldwell header past his own keeper just before half-time to send the teams into the dressing rooms all square. Celtic stepped up the pace in the second period and two goals from Man-of-the-Match Scott McDonald secured three points in a hard fought 3-1 victory.
"Aberdeen are always a tough team to play against.” said McDonald. “When you come to Pittodrie you know you're going to get a hard game and for the first twenty minutes to half an hour they're really going to come at you so it's how you deal with that. I thought we dealt with it okay and then we gave away a stupid free kick and as we seen the last time we were up here that was our Achilles heel and it happened again today. “
“I think it's well documented that the last time we were up here that's where we had the most problems.” continued the Celtic striker. “Charlie Mulgrew's got a great delivery and he's proven that once again today. You are going to get goals scored against you during the season. Everyone highlights the Old Firm goals because they're the most important teams in the league so every time you concede people are going to make something of it. We'll continue the way we are, we believe in the way we defend. It's good balls that beat us and again today that was the case.”
A brave header from Gary Caldwell was deflected into the Aberdeen net by Dons defender Andrew Considine just on the half-time whistle and the Celts were relieved to get back into the game at that stage. “Thankfully enough, and it was maybe a bit of fortune, we got back into it just before half-time.” said Skippy. “I thought we played excellent in the second half. I was a bit disappointed not to score in the first half. I'm always expecting more from myself and I thought I could have done better with the one I tried to take around Jamie (Langfield). But I'm just thankful we got the three points because when it's at 2-1 and you go round him, but you don't quite get there, it's quite edgy. So it was nice just to get the two goal cushion. Even if there are only a couple of minutes to go it's still nice.”
The hard working little forward scored his 49th and 50th goals for the club today but he insists that at this stage of the season it’s all about the points and not the personal glory. “I was pleased with my all round performance and that's the most important thing.” he said. “The goals are an added bonus but as long as I'm doing my job for the team working hard and we get the results it doesn't really matter who gets the goals. It's all about the three points but if I can do that - play well and score goals - it's great.”
Skippy’s goals total for the season now stands at 19 and six of those have been scored against Jimmy Caldwell’s Aberdeen side. “I never knew that.” said the Celtic number seven. “I like coming here, there's always a great atmosphere. It's got a lot of history this football club and it's a nice pitch to play on. Hopefully I can come back here in the future and score more.”
Next stop for the champions is the crucial Glasgow derby at Ibrox next week and regardless of the Huns result against Hearts tomorrow Celtic will begin the derby with a points advantage. “We'll wait and see what their result is.” said McDonald. “If it's only one point then it's only one point. It's game on isn't it? But it still would have been whether we'd won lost or drew today. It's a big one I'm looking forward to and I'll relish the occasion. It should be a good day.”