MIKEY HOPES FOR BETTER LUCK THIS TIME,

CELTIC’S teenage sensation Mikey Johnston hopes to get a chance to shine against Airdrie in this evening’s Scottish Cup encounter at Parkhead.

The sprightly winger, who has scored three goals against Motherwell and Dundee in his last two games in Paradise, is also hoping for better fortune in the national competition.

This time last year, Johnston came on as a second-half substitute for Scott Sinclair in the 5-0 win over Brechin City and sustained a thigh injury that brought his season to a halt.

Johnston, 19, said: “I picked up an injury in the first Scottish Cup game last year, so I want to make sure that doesn’t happen again because I have targets I want to hit in this next part of the season.

“Being out for a while was frustrating, but, thankfully, I’ve had the chance to be in the team again and now I can move forward.

“At the start of the season, I then had a few setbacks with an injury to my hamstring. But I got back on track towards the end of the year. I managed to achieve some of the things I wanted to before the break, so that made it a good end to the year.

“If I hadn’t got in a few goals and some games, I’d have been quite disappointed.

“I hope I can get another game under my belt early on now that we’re back playing games. This would be a good first game to come back into, with this being the Scottish Cup, and, hopefully, I can play my part in trying to get us through to the next round.”

Johnston joined the squad in Dubai for the warm-weather training camp and admitted he has felt the benefit when the team resumed training at Lennoxtown earlier this week.

He added: “I’m feeling fit and strong, so I hope I can carry that into the matches now and try and get a run of games.

“I’ve felt really sharp in training this week, so we’re all looking forward to just playing again and building up a run of momentum.”

* Johnston was speaking to today’s matchday programme.

** DON’T miss the unbeatable match report from tonight’s Celtic v Airdrie Cup clash – only in your champion CQN.