You would think that three Glasgow derbies would be enough to be getting on with for now but Gary Caldwell thinks the perfect way to round off the season would be for both sides to meet again in the Scottish Cup Final in May.
"That would be absolutely great, something to really look forward to." said Caldwell ""It's going to be a good run-in anyway with both teams picking up form - we already have one final and a close league race. It's what everyone wants. We actually talked about it before the game on Wednesday, how long it had been since the last Old Firm final and these are the games you want to be involved in. No one here has experienced it - there are no survivors from the one in 2003 apart from Neil Lennon I suppose. Maybe we should ask Lenny how to handle it - he got sent off in that last one!"
If the final in March is half as compelling as Wednesday night's semi-final marathon against Dundee United then we will be in for a treat but Caldwell thinks that the Hampden pitch will have to be re-laid if the football on display is to match the occasion. "It will be a full house and we want a great game, a national final everyone can watch and be proud of." said the big defender "If it's to be that something has to be done about the pitch. And with a cup final in March and an international match in April, hopefully we have games where you can actually pass the ball. It was difficult against United but you have to be professional. When the ball was coming back at you at times you didn't know where it was going."
"I didn't even go out on the pitch before the game because I knew it was going to be bad so I just prepared for it in the warm-up." continued Heid "The gaffer told us to play the conditions. There were times you would have liked to pop a pass in to midfield but it just wasn't on so you tried to control the ball and get it forward. We don't want to do that, the fans don't want to watch it either but needs must. It would have been harsh if the pitch had caused a mistake that cost the game. Both teams defended well. Forwards can gamble when it's like that but defenders don't have that luxury so you have to be sure."
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink took the captain's armband in place of the injured Stephen McManus on Wednesday and the media, always looking to sniff out a 'Celtic in crisis' story, asked Caldwell why he wasn't captain considering that he had deputised for the skipper before. "I don't know, ask the gaffer." said Gary "But whether you have an armband or not doesn't change the way you play."
One part of the National Stadium pitch that will definitely need re-laid is the penalty spot following that record-breaking shoot-out which the Celts won 11-10 "I've never been all the way through 11 and back again. I was starting to panic that it was coming round to me a second time." said Caldwell "Taking two penalties in a shoot-out is something I've never seen and for two lads to have to do it was so difficult. Once you get five or six who want to take one you start to look around and see boys give it 'I don't want one!' But you have to start picking seven, eight... and for the goalies to hit one each as well, it was a strange night. We're just happy to be in the final."