ASSISTANT boss John Kennedy reckons Celtic are in a good place as they head into their two remaining Premiership encounters before the winter break.
The eight-in-a-row champions kept on track for the magical ninth successive title with a 2-1 victory over Aberdeen at Parkhead yesterday to remain five points clear at the top of the Premiership.
Now they face the short trip to Paisley for the Boxing Day confrontation with St Mirren and the visit of Steven Gerrard’s Ibrox outfit a week today.
The Hoops prepared for the double challenge after dominating against the Dons, but without the sort of scoreline that would emphasise their superiority.
Kennedy, speaking to the Celtic website, said: “Everyone wants to win by five or six every game, we’d love to do that, but the reality is you can’t.
“The most important thing is to keep playing the way we’ve been playing. If you’re not creating the chances, then you’ve got a problem, but we’re creating a lot of chances.”
The Hoops, in fact, recorded 28 shots at Joe Lewis’ goal with 11 on target in a contest where they had almost 60 per cent of the possession and pinned their opponents in defence for most of a dramatic 90 minutes.
Christopher Jullien put the champions ahead early on with a good effort following a Ryan Christie corner-kick and the playmaker set up Odsonne Edouard for the winner in the 66th minute.
JOY BHOY…Christopher Jullien celebrates after his goal gave Celtic the League Cup.
In between those strikes, towering Pittodrie striker Sam Cosgrove levelled with his club’s only attempt on target 10 minutes from the interval and then the Englishman was banished for a rash challenge on Kristoffer Ajer only moments after Edouard’s strike.
Kennedy added: “At 1-1, we weren’t overly-worried. We had plenty of time. The manager reinforced the idea to continue doing what we were doing. When you get 2-1, you want to get three and four, which, unfortunately, didn’t happen.
“You then have to see the game out – there’s always a bit of nervousness when it’s 2-1 going into the final minutes, but I don’t think the scorelines have reflected the performances over the last three games or so.
“This win sets us up well for the week ahead. Momentum is important. Complacency can set you back and we’re on a fantastic run at the moment.
“Domestically, we’re in great shape. Sometimes this time of the year can be a bit of grind, but when confidence is high, that’s where you get the energy and there’s no sign of the guys getting tired.
“Our intention is to go into the final game five points in front. We want to keep an eye on our own house and make sure we’re doing our job.”
TEN-SHUN AS ODSONNE EDGES HOOPS FIVE POINTS CLEAR
