When it’s pointed out to Greg Kiltie that St Mirren are still the only team other than Real Madrid and RB Leipzig to beat Celtic this season, his response is typically tongue-in-cheek.
“That’s not bad names is it? I’m sure Real Madrid are sitting thinking the same thing!”, he grins.
While laughing off the comparison, the stat does go some way to highlighting the enormity of the task facing St Mirren tomorrow.
Ange Postecoglou’s seemingly unstoppable Hoops side sealed the first part of what they hope will lead to a historic treble when they toppled Rangers to lift the League Cup trophy at Hampden last weekend.
With a healthy nine-point lead in the Premiership and a Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Hearts coming up next weekend, Celtic are undoubtedly the team to beat in Scotland right now. But that is precisely where the Buddies have experience none of their Scottish counterparts currently possess.
Stephen Robinson’s side weren’t given a hope of stopping Postecoglou’s men in Paisley last September – with the Glasgow side about to reach an entire year undefeated in the league. Up stepped Mark O’Hara and Jonah Ayunga to send the Hoops back along the M8 with their tails between their legs.
Playmaker Kiltie came on as a second-half substitute in the incredible 2-0 win, one of the Paisley side’s most comfortable-ever victories against an Old Firm side.
And while the 26-year-old admits it’s a hell of a task to repeat the feat in front of the Sky Sports cameras again tomorrow afternoon, he is adamant his Buddies have what it takes to do just that and send shockwaves through the Scottish game once more.
Kiltie told Renfrewshire Live Sport: “It will be very, very challenging. I think we probably need every player that plays for St Mirren to have one of their best days of the season.
“We need to replicate the standards from last time and hope that Celtic maybe have an off day or don’t play to their normal high standards, which is not very often as you’ve seen this season.
“It will definitely be tough. But we’ve had a good season and going into the game we should be confident. We need to believe that we can get something from the game.
“It will by no means be easy but with the season we’ve had going into the game and not being confident or not expecting to get something – it’d be stupid to go in with that mentality. That’s just negative.
“As I say, it will be a challenge. They’re unbeaten in every domestic game apart from the one at St Mirren Park and I’m sure that will be in a few of their heads. It will be a challenge but we’ll see what happens.
“I think we’ve had quite a few good performances this season. People will look at that win as our best one because it was against Celtic, who the rest of the season are unbeaten every other league game.
“They’ll probably see it as the best performance because we’re the only team to beat them. But within the camp, we know that we’ve had other performances that have been just as good. We’ve produced good all-round performances and I’m confident we can do that again.”
One Celtic player Kiltie knows all about is former Kilmarnock team-mate Greg Taylor, who has increasingly become an integral part of the Glasgow club after a tough start to his Parkhead career.
Having started playing together when they were just kids looking to make it to the pro ranks, Kiltie is pleased to see his former colleague doing so well but still hopes to get the better of him again this weekend.
Kiltie said: “We probably played together for the first time when we were only about nine or 10. So, I’ve known him for a long, long time. I know his family really well so I’m delighted he’s doing really well. It’s nice to see.
“We played together when we were younger and then came back together at Kilmarnock when we were both 16.
“We came through together but we actually ended up playing at different times. I was playing for the first team but got injured. Then Greg was playing and got his move – which is when I started playing again!
“So, we probably missed playing a lot of games together at Kilmarnock. He’s played many positions, but that’s also helped him with the team he plays for now.
“He has been excellent, probably one of Celtic’s most consistent performers – especially before the injury he got against Rangers. He’s been tremendous.
“Maybe the fans we expecting someone to come in and replicate what Kieran Tierney provided straight away. That was never going to be the case. Greg has gone in and he’s a totally different player. But the way Celtic play right now suits him down to a T.”
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