Justin Johnson will look to snag the family festive bragging rights over his younger cousin this Boxing Day when Hamilton Accies host Celtic.

The Accies winger is the colder cousin of Parkhead fullback Jeremie Frimpong with Johnson keen to put a dampener on the teenager’s effervescence.

It’s the first time that the duo will have come up against one another on the pitch and with Johnson admitting that such is the oddness of the situation that the two players haven’t over elaborated on it.

“He is my little cousin,” said Johnson. “I do chat with him but we haven’t spoken much about the game, to be honest. I think we both just want to get on the pitch and do what we do and then after that we can be friends again. “I have never actually played against him. This will be the first time. Hopefully we can get something out of the game – it would be great to come out of it with a win.

“Before training went back we would do pre-season together [as kids] but we were never at the same clubs – he was at Manchester City and I was at United when I was younger so we have always been rivals.”

Both players have found themselves under pressure for different reasons this term.

Celtic started the month requiring a police escort to get them out of the dressing room as irate fans took to the club’s car park to agitate for the removal of Neil Lennon.

The Celtic manager’s position will be renewed after the game against Rangers at Ibrox on January 2nd but in recent weeks there has been a steadying of things. Despite having made history with Celtic at Hampden when he became the first man to win a domestic Treble as player and manager, Lennon’s position remains fragile with any hiccup bringing forth another wave of fresh pressure.

“We didn’t really talk about that and what is happening at Celtic,” said Johnson of recent chats with his cousin. “I am more focused on what we are doing, to be honest.

“We are disappointed with the game against Livingston but we have to move past it and focus on Celtic. All we can do is work hard and see if we can get a result.

“If we play how we can play we can cause them problems. We have to work hard and try to match them. They are coming here and we are at home so hopefully we can do something.”

Hamilton host the game which may make life tougher for Celtic given the Parkhead side’s history on plastic pitches.

But given the headache Brian Rice has with Covid issues, it is a difficult ask for Accies to ask questions of Celtic. The Lanarkshire side have been were decimated this week after a positive test for an asymptomatic player meant that a further three track and trace identifications were made.

Rice lamented that the “heart had been ripped out” of his team ahead of the midweek defeat to Livingston. Johnson was one of the few who offered some encouragement in that defeat when he came off the bench for the final half hour of the encounter.

“It was a hard game to go into but you try and work as hard as you can,” he said. “The result didn’t go our way.

“It was unfortunate that it happened [the track and trace]. We have players in the team who can come and step in but unfortunately we couldn’t get the result we wanted against Livingston.

“I can on and tried my best to do something for the team and create chances. It was disappointing but we just have to go again on Saturday.”