Michael McGovern believes Celtic can be beaten twice this season as he and his Hamilton teammates prepare for their visitors from Glasgow tomorrow. The goalkeeper was part of the Accies side which made history at Parkhead in October with their first win over the home side in 76 years, courtesy of an Ali Crawford goal which also took the visitors top of the Scottish Premiership. A 3-2 home defeat by Dundee United on Monday night, days after Alex Neil departed for Norwich City to be replaced by player/interim manager Martin Canning, left the Lanarkshire side in fifth place. However, another win over Celtic would take Hamilton level on points with Ronny Deila's side and McGovern believes that scenario should not be discounted.
The Northern Irishman, who joined the club last summer from Falkirk, said: "There is every chance. We have got good players but obviously with Celtic having such a strong squad it is going to be very difficult. But if we perform to our maximum I am sure we will give them a game and with a bit of luck we can definitely get the result. I remember the goal going in at Parkhead and remember they had a lot of chances to be fair, and the celebration afterwards were good. There is no doubt we can do it again but, as I said, it is going to be very difficult. Celtic will be right up for the game, they need to get the points but we are not going to make it easy for them. It has been a fantastic season and obviously no one would have thought that at this stage of the season, if we beat Celtic we go level on points with them. It is testament to how well the players and management staff have done this season. But it is not over yet, we want to continue to improve and win as many games as possible and finish as high up the league as possible. Martin has tried to keeping things similar to the way it was when Alex was here and it has been working. If it's not broken, don't fix it."
Meanwhile, Celtic manager Deila began preparing for next season by signing Dundee United winger Gary Mackay-Steven on a pre-contract agreement. The Parkhead side confirmed today that the Scotland cap will join them this summer. Mackay-Steven, who started his career with Ross County, made his first-team debut for United in July 2011, and has gone on to make almost 130 appearances for the Tayside club. United, in a statement, claimed the player had rejected several attempts to extend his contract, "including an offer that would have made him one of the highest earners at Tannadice".
Parkhead defender Adam Matthews ruled out revenge as motive for Celtic's bid for another win. Accies could go level on points with the Parkhead side, albeit the visitors have two games in hand following their return from the winter break in Gran Canaria. Matthews, who missed the defeat to Hamilton, said: "You don't like to lose to any team. But we're not looking for revenge. We go into this game the same we do every game looking to win and play as well as we can. Obviously we were disappointed to lose against them but since that defeat we went on a good run, I think nine games unbeaten. Maybe that was the wake-up call we needed. It's going to be a tough game but we know what we've got to do and we're fully focused on the job ahead. Obviously there's a bit more pressure playing catch-up but we know if we win our games in hand we go back top."