Naismith puts pressure on Celtic

06 April 2011 09:00

Steven Naismith has challenged Celtic to prove they can handle the pressure of a tense title run-in after firing Rangers to the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Tuesday night.

The midfielder's late strike wrapped up the win after Kyle Lafferty had opened the scoring at St Johnstone, as the Scottish champions leap-frogged their rivals into pole position in the SPL with a single point advantage. It is the first time Rangers have occupied top spot since Boxing Day and the onus is now on Celtic to deliver the goods when they host Hibernian on Wednesday night.

Asked if their lofty status puts more pressure on the Hoops, Naismith said: "It does without a doubt. We know the same feeling when it's us on the reverse side of it and it's us who are under pressure."

He added: "You've got to stand up and play your game and put on a performance to win games. We have done that and it's over to Celtic now. They do [need to answer the questions].

"It will be like that from now until the end of the season, one of us will be playing on the Saturday and one on the Sunday.

"It's down to the nitty-gritty. You need to win your games. It's not about the performances, you just need to get the results."

Rangers had already squandered the chance to return to the summit when they suffered a 3-2 defeat to Dundee United at Ibrox at the weekend.

Naismith added: "There were a lot of questions asked of us after Saturday's game and the players definitely felt it just as hard as the fans did.

"We know we let ourselves down and it's been unlike us over the last three years.

"When we have had a chance to go on and capitalise, we have usually done it, so Saturday was a big disappointment because we didn't do it. We need to concentrate on winning the rest of the games now."

Source: PA