MX23RW : Saturday, December 14 07:46:06| >> :120:13505:13505:

John Kennedy sets sights on Scottish Cup success to save Celtic's season

John Kennedy sets sights on Scottish Cup success to save Celtic's season
© Reuters
The Parkhead club have already surrendered their Scottish Premiership and League Cup titles to Rangers and St Johnstone respectively.

Interim boss John Kennedy stressed the importance of ending a turbulent season on a high as Celtic prepare to begin the defence of the Scottish Cup.

The Parkhead club completed the quadruple domestic treble last December with a fourth successive final win at Hampden Park, overcoming Hearts in a penalty shoot-out.

The League Cup has since been lost to St Johnstone, who beat Livingston in the final, and Old Firm rivals Rangers ended Celtic's hopes of a 10th successive Premiership title win last month by clinching their 55th championship.

Neil Lennon resigned in February with Celtic struggling and the Parkhead club are in talks with former Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe about becoming the club's next manager.

However, ahead of the visit of League One side Falkirk on Saturday night, Kennedy kept his focus on the Scottish Cup.

He said: "It is always important. It is always a good thing to have at the end of the season.

"The campaign we have had has not been as successful as in previous seasons.

"That hurts and you can feel that in the squad as well. It is not a good thing to deal with. We are used to success, we are used to winning.

"We are a club that demands so the competition that we will start this weekend is really important for us, for the campaign itself and for the players, for the hunger to go on and keep winning.

"You get used to winning. It becomes part of your nature, it becomes part of your season, in terms of striving to win as many competitions as possible.

"When you get a couple of setbacks it hurts, so it is using that hurt to motivate you to go and win the next challenge which is the Scottish Cup."

With France Under-21 striker Odsonne Edouard returning to Lennoxtown later than colleagues who were also on international duty, Kennedy will monitor the fitness of his squad before announcing a team.

The former Celtic defender said: "We will look at it.

"There are a lot of guys itching to get game time as well and at the same time we want to be going out with a strong team to win the game.

"It is an important competition. We will go strong."

ID:441537: cacheID:441537:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:3761:
Written by
P A
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Celtic's David Turnbull celebrates scoring against Lille in the Europa League on December 10, 2020
Read Next:
David Turnbull keen to keep impressing at Celtic
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Celtic1514104444043
2Aberdeen16104230181234
3RangersRangers1510232791832
4Dundee UnitedDundee Utd156632215724
5Motherwell157171823-522
6Dundee165472729-219
7St Mirren165381926-718
8Ross County163671230-1815
9St Johnstone1642101829-1114
10Kilmarnock163581734-1714
11Hearts163491825-713
12Hibernian162681828-1012


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!