Strachan: Supermac picks himself

Last updated : 28 December 2008 By Mikbhoy

Scott McDonald sealed an Ibrox win for the Celts with a sweet volley on the turn after almost an hour played and this very ordinary hun team were never going to recover from the Aussie striker's deadly strike. "I thought he was phenomenal," said Strachan. "Samaras got better as the game went on and together they produced a fantastic goal. I think both sides would agree it's better to lose a game to a brilliant goal than to a horrible mistake. Scott has always been a team player, he just hasn't had a settled partner this season, that's been the problem."

Socceroo McDonald has not managed to hit the back of the net with the frequency he showed last season when he scored 31 goals in a succesful partnership with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink but the fans know that the wee forward will never stop battling whilst he's on the field and the manager has never lost faith in him "We have been chopping and changing all season and that has been a problem not only for Scott, but for us," said Celtic boss Strachan "It would be nice if he could get a settled run with somebody in attack. Scott is picking himself at the moment, we need somebody else to do the same."

Rangers striker Kris Boyd had the opportunity to get his name on the scoresheet just before McDonald struck but Artur Boruc stood firm to deny him. "It was good goalkeeping and it definitely helps the lads around him when they see that we have a goalkeeper in form," said the manager. "Artur had one save to make, and Allan McGregor maybe had two, so there wasn't much going on. It wasn't a classic game in the first half, it was huff and puff football. I felt we had more to offer in the second half, it wasn't easy to up it on a technical level but we got better. We kept mistakes to a minimum at the back and did enough to keep ourselves level until we could get the chance."

Strachan refused to look too far ahead in the title race and preferred to just live for the moment "As I said to the players, we are playing for the moment and the moment is now," he said. "We are just enjoying beating Rangers. We are not looking any further than that."

We're quite enjoying it ourselves Gordon! Hail! Hail!