One half of the Scottish League Cup semi-final draw provides a replay of Sunday's meeting between Celtic and Ross County. Celtic fans will be hoping the same 4-1 result when the sides meet to determine which of them will be heading to Hampden with a chance of leaving with the silverware. Ross County and Celtic will meet at Hampden in the last weekend of January where the latter will be hoping they get the chance to retain the first trophy won under Ronny Deila last season. Sunday's win in Dingwall ensured Celtic stay six points clear at the top of the league, but their assistant manager, John Collins, said Jim McIntyre's side showed enough in that game to suggest that the cup meeting next year will present a stern test for his side.
Collins said: "We’re content with the draw. We look forward to it and it’s another challenge. It’s the semi-final and we’ve got to be on our toes as they’ll be coming here with nothing to lose and we’ll be the big favourites, no doubt. They’ll come and give it everything as they always do and they are playing very well with great team spirit, so we’ll have to play well. We learned at the weekend that they have a terrific spirit. Even when we went 3-0 up they came back into it and scored a goal. They never gave up and they caused us one or two problems as well. But there’s a long way to go and lots of games to play before then so we’ll forget about the semi-final after today for a while and concentrate on the league."
There is now a short break, until 21 November, from league duties until Celtic host Kilmarnock, and while some Celtic players will use the break to get some much-needed rest after such a hectic schedule in recent months, others will fly out to represent their national teams. Collins said that finding time to relax will be vital for the players ahead of home games against Kilmarnock and Ajax. He said: "A lot of the players are away on international duty and the ones who have played most of the games are going to get a good few days off, which I think they need. They’ve had a tough schedule so it’s important they recharge their batteries and refresh themselves and get away from the training ground for a few days."