Caldwell: Heid aiming for lucky thirteen

Last updated : 04 December 2008 By Mikbhoy

"I am a bit surprised," said the man known as 'Heid' to the fans."We have obviously been on a great run. To win 12 games in any league is a great achievement. You have to be very consistent, very focused on what you are doing. Rangers dropping points has obviously surprised us because they're a great side and they showed in the first Old Firm game that they're a top team. They've made a few mistakes and we've been lucky enough to punish them for it."

Celtic trailed the huns by seven points in April and yet they claimed the championship in May following a terrific title run-in which included two derby victories over their rivals so Caldwell is unlikely to write off Rangers so relatively early in the season. "If you are as good as they are, in this league you are going to have to have a run where you win a lot of games," said the Celtic defender "We have to be ready for that. We found out last year that it's never over. We're in a position where we are ahead and we have to maintain that. We have to do what we have done over the last 12 games and keep winning football matches until it's mathematically done. There is a long way to go in the league."

As Celtic travel to Easter Road looking for that thirteenth straight victory in the league the man who is rapidly becoming a bit of a cult hero with the Celtic support wants the winning run to go on and on "We've worked really hard," said 'Heid' "We've had injuries in the run that we've had too and I think everyone who has been involved is very proud of it. It's not finished yet, we want to keep it going and see how many we can win on the bounce. It's a great achievement to win 12 and we want more."

"Every game that has come along in the run, and we've had a lot with the Champions League in between, we went out with the mindset to try to win it." he continued "In the league, we have done it very well. In the Champions League, we have struggled a bit. Now we have just got the league, we want to keep it going."

Caldwell refuses to dwell on last week's defeat by Aalborg in the Champions League group E match which ended Celtic's European dreams for another season and he insists that the only way to deal with it is to banish it from his thoughts entirely "As a footballer you have to put things out your mind," said the Celtic defender "For all the result was terrible in Aalborg, the performance was pretty good and we have to keep believing in what we are doing. Things went against us that night but as a footballer you take it on the chin, put it out your head and come back from it. We got a great result on Saturday against Inverness and we want to keep that going against Hibs on Sunday."