Celtic facing striker crisis

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan is facing a striker shortage for the visit of Dunfermline to Parkhead this weekend.

The Scot breathed a sigh of relief with the news Shaun Maloney had only sprained his ankle during the weekend win over Rangers after the injury initially appeared to be much worse.

But Chris Sutton and Maciej Zurawski failed to recover from injuries to face their arch rivals, and 22-year-old Maloney is also facing a race against time to be fit for the arrival of the Bank of Scotland Premier League’s bottom club.

Strachan said: “Shaun will be touch and go for the weekend and, at the moment, we’d have to look upon him as a real doubt.

“It’s far from ideal given that we’ve three strikers out already, but what can you do other than just get on with it?

“Sometimes you need to handle a spate of injuries like this but you’d certainly rather they didn’t all come in one specific area of the team.

“That’s making things quite difficult.”

Strachan could be left with just one experienced striker in John Hartson.

Zurawski has not featured since the 5-0 win at Livingston on October 1, having pulled his hamstring for Poland against England last month, while Sutton has been troubled with an injury behind his knee since facing Dundee United on October 30.

Strachan added: “I’ve no idea at the moment whether they’ll be ready.

“Zurawski’s now going full out, but it’s been a while since he’s played and we won’t put him in if the timing’s not right.

“Neither he nor Chris will be in the reserve team tomorrow, that’s for sure, so again it’s going to be touch and go.”