BARRY RUSSELL, the East Kilbride captain, insists Celtic manager Ronny Deila had better play his strongest side in tomorrow’s William Cup Scottish Cup fifth round tie because defeat could sound the death knell on his crumbling season.
Deila enters the match at Airdrieonians’ Excelsior Stadium under intense pressure following last weekend’s League Cup exit at the hands of Ross County and the midweek loss on league business to title challengers Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Russell, a Celtic supporter, knows exactly how much is at stake for the Norwegian and his players and believes it would be foolish for the Ladbrokes Premiership champions to play anything other than a full-strength team with trophies – and jobs – on the line.
“I am hoping Celtic play the strongest side they possibly can,” he said. “It could be the final nail in the coffin if we went out and beat them, so I don’t think they could afford to play a youth squad against us.
“If they want to play youngsters, bring it on.
“We’ve got a job to do on Sunday and we will do our best.
“Can we beat Celtic? I’ve seen stranger things happen in football. It’s 11 against 11.
“We are also going to have 5000 fans backing us and we will be on top of our game. Celtic are brilliant, but we will give it our best shot and see what happens.”
Russell believes East Kilbride can take great encouragement from Celtic’s 3-1 defeat to Ross County at Hampden Park in the semi-final of the League Cup.
“After the Ross County result, I got a lot of texts from people saying we can do it now,” he said. “I do think we can take a lot from the County game.
“I watched the whole match and County definitely did their homework on Celtic at set-pieces.
“I know Celtic had 10 men for most of the game, but I didn’t think Celtic played that well individually.
“If we can get through the first 20 minutes without conceding, Celtic could become frustrated and the fans will start getting on their backs.”
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