| For many fans, Wednesday night’s visit to Celtic is almost an irrelevant side issue as they set their sights on the CIS Insurance Cup final.
While the manager has also started his preparatory work, and the players have done “bits and pieces” with the final in mind, that’s now been put on the back burner until Thursday.
And, although away points may be rare commodities at Parkhead, with just three more needed to effectively secure a top-six league finish, he knows this is a big game, too.
“Wednesday night is one of two very big games for us over the coming week and, until it’s over, that’s the one I want the players to be concentrating on,” said Craig.
“There I things I can work on with Sunday in mind, but, between now and Thursday morning, the players will only be working on the Celtic game.”
One change from the normal build up to a midweek fixture came yesterday when the squad were given the day off.
“It’s been a bit hectic recently and, with the Gretna game being moved and moved again, the boys did not get a day off last week, so I decided to give them the weekend off to make sure they were fresh for this week.”
As he did for that Gretna fixture on Thursday, Craig is set to use a rotation policy for Celtic and, with almost the entire squad fit, has plenty of options.
“Jon Daly is back in training, but probably not ready to play, and Steven Robb would’ve played part of the reserve game today. That only leaves Keith Watson definitely out.”
Robb apart, only kids would have been used for the second string trip to Motherwell, but the game, on a local junior ground, was off due to ground conditions.
Returning to the cup final, tickets continue to sell well and only a few hundred of the 17,200 available to United were left today. |
