Source: Team_Talk
McDonald keen to forget cup exit
The Hoops crashed out of the Homecoming Scottish Cup on Saturday, losing 1-0 to Saints in the quarter-finals, despite having thrashed the same opponents 7-0 less than a week earlier.
"We were disappointed, maybe embarrassed by the performance itself," McDonald said. "We didn't play well at all, didn't create chances and no-one played particularly well on the day.
"People might say there's more emphasis on the cup final now but it was always a big game. It was supposed to be a chance to win the first trophy of a treble. That is not possible for us now and maybe that makes it more important for us to win it.
"The simple fact is we lost but we need to get on with it. It hurts, of course it does, but if we win come Sunday, then I'm sure it'll all be forgotten about."
Celtic's top scorer does not believe the winners of the first Old Firm final for six years will have a psychological advantage in the SPL run-in.
"I'm not sure about the whole psychology of it all," he said. "The ones who win it are always on a high but the ones who lose it are usually determined to bounce back.
"It's swings and roundabouts. People love to talk about it, though."
Celtic's form since the turn of the year has been patchy at best and they have faced increasing criticism, especially of their strikers' inability - McDonald excepted - to find the net.
"You can't protect yourself from the criticism, you just need to let it go and get on with things," McDonald said.
"The manager's certainly used to it by now, he's had it for four years.
It's not going to come as a shock to him or bother him, so he just gets on with the job in hand."
