JOE HART says that Celtic have already forgotten about their European disappointment as they look to make short work of Hibernian at Easter Road for the second time this season.
The Celtic keeper expects Hibs to pose a different challenge under Shaun Maloney to the one they faced when blowing Jack Ross’s team away with a blistering first-half performance in Edinburgh in October, but he is confident that they can produce a similar performance tomorrow lunchtime to get a crucial three points.
And he says there will be no hangover from the dismal defeat in Norway that brought their UEFA Conference League campaign to a swift conclusion.
“I’ve felt that when we are really on it and we play the football we did in that first half [at Easter Road], we can really blow teams away.
“But likewise in the second half, when we weren’t perfect, it’s a competitive league and there’s a lot of pride at a good club and a big club with a fan base that got behind them, it was tough. But we got the job done and that’s all we want to do on Sunday.
“I think they might have a slightly different approach. He (Maloney) didn’t have long in charge when we played them in the middle of January just after we came back.
“I’d imagine he’ll have implemented his ways. We’ve been focused on Bodo. We are now going to turn our focus to putting that one to bed and then focusing on Hibs. I’ll have a better feel for it when it when we begin to focus on it.
“Like I said, we are that focused on how we’re doing things. We’ve got a lot of belief in what’s going on in front of us, a lot of belief in the manager.
“We take each game exactly the same and we focus on each game exactly the same and we intend to win every game that we go into.
“Thursday proved that with human nature you can’t do that. But that’s not through a lack of trying.”
Hart doesn’t buy into the theory that Celtic’s European exit can be a blessing in disguise though, neither in applying pressure to Rangers or in giving their players an advantage over their rivals due to the midweek respite they will now receive.
“I think you know my answer to that,” he said. “We’ll just focus on exactly what we want to do.
“We’ve been like that when we’ve been behind and we’ll be exactly the same like now we are in front.
“We’re just focusing on what we can take care of, what our squad can take care of. It’s Hibs that are in front of us.
“Who knows [if a rest will benefit us]? That’s not something that we think about. We’re set up to play twice a week in the squad.
“Ultimately, right now, we’re not going to get that but we were set up for it. Whether that was the case or not, we’re ready.”
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