McGeady out to end Old Firm frustrations

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND winger Aiden McGeady will look to set the record straight with his first win at Ibrox against Old Firm rivals Rangers tomorrow.

The Celtic wide-man, 23, has enjoyed his fair share of success against the Govan side since he made a scoring debut for the Bhoys in a 1-1 draw against Hearts in April, 2004.

However, an elusive win at the home of their greatest rivals has managed to elude him.

“It is a special game to be involved in,” McGeady said.

“Growing up as a Celtic fan, it was the game you want to play in and I imagine it would be the same for every Rangers fan.

“I think I prefer Old Firm games at Ibrox, to be honest.

“It is probably more intimidating being a substitute than playing there, when you are running past (the Rangers fans) you can hear everything.

“I haven’t actually been on the winning team there.

“I’ve had a couple of draws but I’ve never been on the winning side — I was suspended last time we won 1-0. But we have had a couple of good performances there when we should have won and it’s that bit more rewarding.

“If we don’t concede that will give us a good basis upon which to grab a goal.”

McGeady’s manager Tony Mowbray, meanwhile, will ignore“a thousand pieces of advice” before he picks his side for tomorrow’s derby.

The Parkhead side will go seven points clear of arch-rivals Rangers at the top with a victory in Govan.

However, despite that position of strength, Mowbray’s men have not enjoyed widespread praise for their domestic form and questions have been asked about some of his selections in various areas of the pitch.

The perception that Celtic have failed to hit the heights of recent years were not helped by Thursday night’s 1-1 Europa League draw against Rapid Vienna, which left them bottom of Group C with only one point from two games.

Former Hibernian and West Brom boss Mowbray said: “You have to handle the aftermath of a 1-1 draw with Rapid Vienna being a disaster.

“We haven’t lost a league game yet and so we aren’t doing too badly.

“In this job, there is a thousand people who will tell you are not picking the right team, or you are not getting them to do this, to do that.

“People say, ‘I can’t believe he did this — why did he do that?’

“You can’t have a thousand people picking and managing the team.

“There is only one man who does it, if you get your shot at it, so you must do it your way.’’

For his part Rangers manager Walter Smith feels the Light Blues still have every chance of retaining the Clydesdale Bank Premier League this season — even if they fall seven points behind.

He said: “We don’t want to fall seven behind, we want a good result and to try to peg Celtic back a little bit.

“But both teams have found themselves in a situation where they have been seven points behind the other and have dragged themselves back to win a championship.

“I think the most important thing is for us to peg Celtic back.”