Barry Douglas is desperate to play his part against Celtic today and help Dundee United fans forget all about their Ibrox agony in midweek. The defender has been used only sparingly due to the form displayed by full-back Paul Dixon this season. Douglas did make it onto the pitch from the bench half-time away to Rangers - a game that ended in a 5-0 loss - and is hoping to get a start in today's meeting with the other SPL side from Glasgow.
Douglas said: "It was just good to get on and get some game-time under my belt. That's what I've been needing and hopefully I can maybe get a start against Celtic now. I want to play all the time obviously but I've just had to be patient as the boys have been doing really well recently with the exception of the Rangers game. Any player who gets a chance has to try and take it so if it comes my way on Sunday I'll have to try my best to make an impression.''
Douglas insists the team still feel the pain of the big loss and hopes they can use that as motivation to recover in style with a win over champions Celtic. He said: "The boys are hurting. Nobody likes to suffer that kind of defeat against anyone so we want to put it right. It's a great game to look forward to. Celtic will come here as champions full of confidence so we'll have to be ready for the challenge. The lads have been working hard in training over the past couple of days and we want to take that into Sunday's game. We know when we've not done ourselves justice like the other night at Ibrox so we won't need any extra motivation come kick-off on Sunday.''
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is looking to finish off the season in style with two more wins, starting today against Dundee United away. Celtic beat St Johnstone 1-0 at home on Thursday night to reach 90 points, two short of their total last year when they finished second to rivals Rangers. Lennon hopes his side improve upon that tally by taking maximum points from Tayside and then at home to Hearts next week, where Celtic will be presented with the SPL trophy - although an improvement by just one point will be acceptable. Lennon said: "We would like 96 points ideally but if we get to 93 I will be very pleased. We still have two games to go. Tannadice is always a great venue to go and play and obviously we have Hearts at Celtic Park. But we want to better last year and if we can win one more game we will have done that and I will be delighted.''
Lennon made seven changes for the visit of the Saints, leaving out Charlie Mulgrew, Adam Matthews, Glenn Loovens, Scott Brown and Georgios Samaras with number one keeper Fraser Forster and Gary Hooper starting on the bench. Lennon insists the comfortable if unspectacular win over Steve Lomas's Europa League contenders only confirmed his thoughts about his squad, as he looks to tinker again at Tannadice.
He said: "It's strong. They can cope. I thought we were wasteful in the final third at times but some of our build-up play was very good. I was pleased with Rabiu Ibrahim's contribution when he came on and I thought Dylan McGeouch had a good game so it has given me food for thought. Emilio Izaguirre had another excellent game and looks back to his best and Kris Commons looks in good form at the minute so I'm delighted. We are planning for next year. We still want to give the players the opportunity but in the meantime we still want to win games.''