GARY MACKAY-STEVEN is seeking revenge on his former club Ross County in the league clash at Celtic Park on Saturday.
The winger insists he wants to atone for the shattering League Cup semi-final defeat against the Highlanders when they come to Glasgow for the second time in a fortnight.
County obliterated Ronny Deila’s hopes of a treble after winning 3-1 in controversial circumstances with the Hoops having to play 80 minutes with 10 men after Efe Ambrose’s red card.
Mackay-Steven, who opened the scoring in 27 seconds against the Dingwall side, said: “It would be nice to go out and try and get one over them for what happened at Hampden.
“There is obviously a lot of pressure at Celtic and there is always a lot of scrutiny on us. It has probably been the toughest time since I came here.
“But it has been a really difficult week for everyone. It is not easy when there is so much criticism towards the club and the manager and the players.
“It was important for us to get the win over East Kilbride, but as soon as the whistle had went we were thinking about Ross County.
“We need to try and get a run of results together that will allow us to pull away now in the league.
“We know where we are in the league and what we want to do and we also know that we need to try and kick on now. We have a couple of home games now which is good and, hopefully, we can use them to our advantage by picking up maximum points.
“I had an eye on the Aberdeen score at the weekend, but, to be fair, I think we have always had a lot of respect for them as title challengers.
“However, we know what we need to do and we would like to start with that this weekend. We have a game in hand now and everything is in our own hands.
Charlie Mulgrew made his comeback against East Kilbride and GMS added: “He is such a big player for us and his versatility can be so important, as can the experience he has.
“We have him coming back and Scott Brown has also returned and they are two players who can be really vital for us in the run-in.
“They know what it takes to be successful at this club and they can, hopefully, help us because over the next few weeks they will get sharper and stronger as they get more minutes on the pitch.”
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