Strachan plays down dismal pre-season

Celtic boss Gordon Strachan insists the Hoops’ dismal pre-season form will not have any bearing on the champions’ defence of their Bank of Scotland Premier League trophy.

The Bhoys go into Saturday’s curtain-raiser against Kilmarnock at Parkhead on the back of a pre-season campaign that yielded four defeats, two draws and one win, and the paltry total of two goals.

The Parkhead side went down to Legia Warsaw and Wisla Krakow before losing 4-0 to DC United.

Two draws saved their US tour to some extent but the boost gained in Sunday’s 1-0 win over Everton was wiped out against Alex Ferguson’s shadow squad.

The Bhoys manager insisted: “It doesn’t really count until the start of the season and we’ll see what happens and we’ll decide if it’s affected our confidence then.

“I will tell you in about five or six weeks’ time if it’s a concern or not. Last year we didn’t score many goals in pre-season and didn’t play particularly well and we won the league by 21 points.”