Injury relief for Strachan

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan will be relieved to have no further depletions to his squad for the St Stephen's Day visit of Dundee United in the Bank of Scotland Premier League.

Before Saturday’s 1-0 win over Falkirk at Celtic Park, which extended the Hoops’ lead at the top of the table to 16 points over Rangers, the Parkhead boss learned right-back Mark Wilson will be out for up to two months with a knee injury.

Captain Neil Lennon’s controversial late sending-off against the Bairns, when he appeared to move his head towards Anthony Stokes, means he will automatically miss Tuesday’s game against the Taysiders.

With striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and midfielder Shaun Maloney still on their way back to full fitness, Strachan can ill-afford the loss another player.

But the champions look to have come through and the weekend’s battle with Falkirk relatively unscathed.

Strachan said: “There seem to be no new injuries. Jiri Jarosik was the only player who took a knock against Falkirk but he should be okay.”

Jarosik, ostensibly a midfielder, has been given an attacking role in recent games as Kenny Miller finds himself struggling to get out of his most recent scoring drought, even missing a late penalty against the Bairns after coming on as substitute for Maciej Zurawski

The former Wolves player ended an eight-game goalless run in the SPL against Rangers at Celtic Park on September 23.

However, since that day, the Scotland striker has only scored once morel, against Kilmarnock on October 29, and Saturday’s game saw him extend his run without a goal to 11 matches, equalling the unwanted record for a Hoops striker set by Harald Brattbakk in seven years ago.

Strachan believes Miller will come good but admits his team-mates are carrying him through his barren spell.

He said: “It was disappointing because he had a few chances when he came on and that penalty was his best one.

“It’s just a little spell he is going through now and we just have to get on with it. We are lucky we are getting our goals from elsewhere just now and we have a team spirit which is getting us through games.”

Evander Sno, who also came on as a second-half replacement against Falkirk, is confident the 26-year-old will get on the score-sheet soon.

He said: “I don’t think Kenny Miller has any self doubts, he’s a very good player with good skills. We can all miss penalties – I have done it as well. When he scores his goal, others will follow.

“When you see him in training, he is still very positive and scores lots of goals. He trains hard and that will pay off.”