Fans expensive travel awaits fixtures

Having strained a hamstring against St Johnstone on Saturday, it is not credible to expect Giorgos Giakoumakis to play any part in Sunday’s Scottish Cup semi-final. We have surely learned from recent experiences that strained hamstrings require proper rest, to prevent a more serious injury.

Kyogo’s return to action was a joy but too brief for him to be considered as starter anytime soon. He will be fit to torment defenders in small doses only for a while. That leaves us without our MVP in recent months and our MVP from the first half of the season in a hugely important cup tie.

There are reasons not to be too concerned. Celtic have scored nine from eight different players since the last goal they conceded, Matt O’Riley is the only one to have broken the sequence by contributing more than once. This team contribute goals from all over the park.  Maybe Hampden will see Greg Taylor get in on the act!

The post-split fixtures are likely to see us go to Ross County and Dundee United, with Newco, Hearts and Motherwell at home. Hopefully the game at County’s tiny Dingwall stadium is not material to the title race.  The SPFL have known the scenario for two days now, so let’s hope the fixtures come out this afternoon.  When you live in a Scottish bubble it is easy to forget many people have difficult and expensive travel arrangements to book just to see their team play football.  At the very least they deserve as much notice as possible.