Beware of the Backlash
Thursday, 15th Aug 2019Reaction to Romanian result could hit Betfred opponents
Following Celtic’s Champion League exit Stevie Crawford fears the backlash that could be inflicted on the Scottish Champion’s next opponents.
With Saturday’s Betfred Cup tie approaching the Pars boss and his assistant Jason Dair were at Celtic Park on Tuesday night where they watched Romanian side CFR Cluj become the first visitors to win there since Valencia on Valentine’s Day this year.
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“Jason and I were chatting in the car coming back and the feeling was that it has a knock-on effect to Scottish football as well. It’s disappointing to see them missing out on the opportunity to qualify. However, Cluj were a very good side and caused Celtic plenty of problems.”
Aberdeen with a 1-0 at the end of last season are the only Scottish side to have won at Celtic Park in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. This confirms Stevie’s understanding of hard it is going to be in the Betfred’s Third Round draw.
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Domestically, it’s a different type of opposition. We took what we could from Celtic to see if there was anything that we could pick up on but look at the size of the squad. When we were walking in Jonny Hayes was still in his tracksuit, they left Scott Sinclair out - the depth and quality they have is incredible and shows the massive challenge that we have ahead of us.
“It’s a different sort of week for us, with different pressures. They will be looking forward to it but there will be that uncertainty because it’s a little bit of the unknown for these boys in terms of what they are going in to.
“Celtic will be disappointed but, if we give it our best efforts, as I’ve said in every game this season, I’ll have no complaints.
“We’ve got over 1000 supporters going and around 400 went down to Dumfries. They are spending hard earned cash to go and pay for tickets and if we can look them in the eye afterwards and say ‘we gave it our best’ then that connection between the supporters and club will be massive.”
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