Barron: Beware of Celtic backlash!

Nov 25 2009 by Paul Behan, Paisley Daily Express

ST MIRREN defender David Barron has warned his Buddies to be wary of a backlash when they take on title-chasing Celtic at Parkhead this weekend.

Barron believes Tony Mowbrays players will be desperate to bounce back with a win following their surprise 2-1 defeat against Dundee United at Tannadice on Sunday.

That loss has left the Hoops a point behind arch-rivals Rangers in the SPL table and the Ibrox side also have a game in hand over Mowbrays men.

Now Barron reckons Saints will need to be firing on all cylinders on Saturday if they are to have any chance of taking a point or three home with them from the East End of Glasgow.

The 22-year-old full-back said: Any team which suffers a defeat wants to put it right in the next game and that is especially true when its one of the Old Firm teams, who have not been doing well of late.

I would think Celtic will be like that on Saturday.

Theyll be like a wounded animal, so theyll be very dangerous and we need to be prepared for that.

Gus MacPhersons men have already locked horns with the Hoops this season when the sides met in a SPL clash at St Mirren Park back in September.

Goals from Paddy McCourt and Shaun Maloney were enough to earn Celtic the points.

And, while Barron believes Saints played a part in their own downfall that day, he insists the Paisley team will be a tough nut to crack this weekend.

Barron added: I thought we showed Celtic a bit too much respect that day.

In the first half, we didnt get close to them like we should have and, when we came in at half time, we got a bit of a rollicking for it.

We improved a lot in the second half and, if we start Saturdays game in that manner, we wont be far away from getting a good result.

Barron believes there are so many match winners in Celtics ranks that singling out one or two dangermen is pointless.

But he also reckons Saints can cause the under-fire Hoops problems by playing at a tempo that might not suit the Glasgow side.

Barron said: You cant really single anyone out in the Celtic team because they have so many match winners all over the park.

They are a quality team, even though they have not done well of late.

They can hurt you from anywhere.

But I feel that, if we start at a high tempo, then we can make it a lot easier on ourselves and hopefully give ourselves a platform to build on.