St Mirren players put Charles Dunne in a mock dock charged with disloyalty after being snapped wearing an Aberdeen strip at Hampden on Sunday.
The defendant - sorry defender - got off with a slap on the wrist after mitigating factors that he was supporting best pal Anthony Stewart were taken into account. Boss Stephen Robinson was behind the ‘trial’ by team mates at their Ralston training ground and admits it was all a bit of fun as Dunne was ordered to buy the entire Saints staff a McDonald’s breakfast by judge Ryan Flynn.
Robinson was certainly lovin’ it. But the St Mirren boss was deadly serious when he argued the case for his side to arrest Celtic’s dominant run of form tonight and send Ange Postecoglou’s side down for a second time this season. The Hoops’ only Premiership defeat in the last 16 months came in Paisley in September thanks to goals from Mark O’Hara and Jonah Ayunga. And with spirits lifted from Friday’s defeat to Hearts thanks to the fun and games over Dunne - who ironically returns from a ban for the trip to Parkhead - Robinson is backing his men to hold court in Parkhead.
He said: “We’ve proved we can compete with any team in the country when we play as well as we have. It’s a different game than the first one, it’s at Celtic Park in front of 60,000 fans against a very good team and a top manager.
“We know the task ahead of us, we know that we can beat them — that is the belief the players have. But we also know we have to be right at the top of our game to get anywhere near it.
“You need that, you need a lot of luck, you need a lot of top performances, at least 10 of your players on top of their game. You need to contain the threat that Celtic have, which is a real high tempo, real high quality. Constantly, your concentration levels have to be at the top level.
“If you take your mind off it, your focus off it, for any second then...well, the ball goes out of play, it’s straight back in and that’s it. We’ve worked on that, we’re well versed on it.
“We believe we can cause them threats as well. We believe we have the players, the energy and pace in the team that can cause threats. We’re going into the game with belief and with total respect.
“We shouldn’t beat them, we shouldn’t get anywhere near them on paper. But paper isn’t what football’s played on.”
Robinson will be without Mark O’Hara who is set to miss a month with ankle ligament damage. But Ethan Erhahon returns from suspension along with Dunne and Ryan Strain could be back from injury too.
Robinson - who said there’s been no fresh interest in Erhahon or Keanu Baccus who has been linked with Norwich - added: “We know what we’re going to face, we’re going to face a real high tempo quality team that are non stop for 96 minutes.
“The ball boys are probably fitter than half the players! The ball’s constantly in play and that’s what Celtic want to do.
“We have to be equipped for that. Nothing will be a shock for us. There will be no surprises.”
Buddies midfielder Alex Gogic lapped up the Dunne wind-up on Monday morning and insists it shows the bond which is driving St Mirren on in their quest for a top six place this season.
He said: “The changing room is incredible. The boys and staff are close and it shows on the pitch. We’re all together in this. There’s no big egos and everyone is focused on getting the job done.
“It’s one of the best squads I’ve been involved in. Just how close we all are. It’s only us who have beaten Celtic this season. So we know they are beatable.”
Meanwhile Robinson insists football's rule makers need to take a close look at the handball law. The Buddies boss was incensed that his side wasn't awarded a spot kick when the ball hit Hearts defender Kye Rowles in Friday night's defeat in Gorgie.
He said: “It’s frustrating for every single manager in the league, the handball decision. We’ve all spoke, we’ve all had VAR meetings. The people are all in agreement. The referees are in agreement, everybody’s in agreement.
“So, it’s something that we have to look at it. Nobody listens to me, though.
“We need Ange to say it, we need Michael to say it or Robbie. Maybe because we’re smaller clubs we don’t have as much power for people to listen to you.
“But it’s happened to the bigger clubs as well and we’ve had the managers from the bigger clubs say the same thing. We’ve all been on calls and VAR calls. Everyone’s in agreement with it. I think the only consistent thing about it is that it’s happened to everybody!
“It’s not just one team. Everybody agrees, it’s difficult for refs, it’s difficult new technology. It takes time.
“Everything that’s new in life has a few teething problems. And we’ve had a few teething problems with VAR in our game.”
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