Johnston not fazed by Dons
Kilmarnock boss Allan Johnston does not believe his side will suffer just because Celtic are now in a title race.
The Hoops lost top spot in the Scottish Premiership to Aberdeen after Thursday's clash with Partick was postponed.
The Dons could now build themselves a four-point lead if they beat Motherwell on Sunday - the day before Killie host Ronny Deila's men at Rugby Park.
Johnston knows Celtic will be desperate to keep themselves in touch with the Dons but he does not think that will make the task any tougher for his Ayrshire outfit.
He said: "I think when you play for Celtic there is a demand on you as players to get results. It is such a big club and the fans accept nothing less.
"There is always pressure on them, regardless of whether there are teams chasing them, so I'm not sure Aberdeen's challenge will make our job any harder.
"But they are under pressure as a team right now because Aberdeen are pushing them. They have dropped points, so they are being scrutinised a bit more now."
While the waterlogged Firhill pitch meant Celtic had New Year's Day off, Killie had to battle in the wind and rain to pick up their second successive victory at St Mirren Park.
But they will be without Craig Slater after he was sent off celebrating his decisive penalty in the 2-1 Paisley win.
The 20-year-old had already been booked for a foul on John McGinn before he dived in amongst the travelling support after netting five minutes from the end.
That left Willie Collum with no choice to send him off but Johnston has warned him not to get carried away again.
"We may have to change things about for the Celtic game because a couple of boys have been struggling with injuries, while Slates was sent off against St Mirren, so he will miss out," said the boss.
"We said to Craig after that game that we can't afford to have guys getting sent off stupidly like that. We can't afford to lose important players.
"Emotion genuinely was what took him off the park because he totally forgot about the rule.
"We are all gutted for him because he has played an important part since he came back into the team."
Efe Ambrose is relishing the challenge to Celtic's Scottish Premiership title this season.
With five points separating the top five sides ahead of Sunday's fixtures, the Parkhead men could find themselves further behind and in third place by the time Ronny Deila takes his team down to Kilmarnock.
However, the Celtic defender believes any possible threat to their title will simply bring the best out of the Celtic squad.
"Aberdeen are at the top and they deserve it, they are a great team and have been playing well," said Ambrose.
"We respect them and we look for the challenge from them. Not just them, Dundee United, so we need to step up.
"The best of Celtic is going to come because we know there are teams behind us trying to take the title from us.
"What we need to do is win every game from now until the end of the season and I believe we have the ability and the squad that can do that.
"But it is easier said than done. People think it is easy for Celtic for win the league but it isn't.
"Every team wants to beat Celtic so that makes it difficult. It puts pressure on us and it is not easy. We have to have the character.
"We have not been at our best, but that is football.
"I think it will change this year. Against Kilmarnock it is going to be a different Celtic team."
Celtic will fly out to Gran Canaria for a winter break following their first trip to Rugby Park this season.
Deila insists he has no problems with playing on Killie's artificial pitch even though he has yet to see it.
The Norwegian said: "I think it is much better to play on a good artificial pitch than to play on bumpy natural grass.
"The tempo of the game is high and the ball will move very quick.
"I have a lot of experience with artificial pitch so it is normal for me but I understand it is different for the players."
Source: PA
