Oh…err…Hey St. Mirren…fancy seeing you so soon.

By: Matt | March 6th, 2009

I am proud to say that I have a passion for the television show Seinfeld equal to my passion for Celtic. I own all the DVD’s and the Seinfeld edition of Scene It. Therefore, it is a bit surprising to me that I have not busted out a Seinfeld reference more on this blog, but prepare for one today. This weekend Celtic have the 6th round of the Scottish Cup (now sponsored by….er Scotland?) and they will be traveling to the new Love Street to take on St. Mirren. As in the same St. Mirren that Celtic put a 7 goal beating on just a week ago. Any Seinfeld nut like myself might be reminded of the time Jerry would not let a man he didn’t know into his building because he did not recognize him, only to find out later that said man lived on his floor and then proceeded to see lots of said person around his building. Celtic did not let St. Mirren into the building, but they will be seeing a lot more of the Buddies this week. Embarrassing for all parties. Seinfeld metaphors aside, after Celtic’s shellacking of St. Mirren, the Bhoys had another solid performance against Kilmarnock that put them to the top of leauge. Hopefully the Hoops will bring that good form into the 6th round of the Scottish Cup this weekend and the final against Rangers in the CIS Cup at Hampden next week.

Like last season with the Barry Robson-Paul Hartley pairing in the midfield, Gordon Strachan has seemed to fall ass backwards into a line-up, particularly in the midfield, that works. Marc Crosas has put two solid performances together in his two starts in the middle, and most would expect the same line up that put a touchdown on St. Mirren a week ago. I would neither be surprised nor that outraged if the Catalonian bhoy is given the cup tie off. Crosas has had a problem with hamstring “ouchies” (as the Lord of the Wing would say) since coming here from Barca and a game off in the 6th round of the Scottish Cup so he can be rested and healthy for the Cup Final against the Huns might not be the worst idea.

Barry Robson, Koki Mizuno, Shaun Maloney, Paddy McCourt, and Lee Naylor still will not be available because of various “ouchies”. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink will be available however and hopefully the week off because of suspension to figure out how to put the ball in the net. Scott McDonald was able to get back on the goal scoring track mid week, but his striking partner Georgios Samaras had a howler of a game. Hopefully Big Jan can give Skippy some help this weekend.

St. Mirren are likely to be fired up for this match, not wanting another repeat of last week’s beat down. I expect them to keep it close throughout the match, with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink getting back in the swing of things and netting one of his trademark late game winners to move on to the next round of the cup via a 1-0 scoreline.

TAL