Brown: Celtic boss coping well with pressure

Celtic captain Scott Brown believes Ronny Deila's positivity is helping the Hoops boss deal with the pressure heaped upon him this week.

The Norwegian is under-fire following the 2-1 defeat by Aberdeen at Pittodrie on Wednesday night which cut the champions' lead over the Dons at the top of the Premiership to three points.

After hopes of a domestic treble ended abruptly with a shock 3-1 defeat to Ross County at Hampden Park last Sunday, and a dismal European campaign earlier in the season which saw them finish bottom of their Europa League group after failing to reach the Champions League, Deila's future is again subject to widespread discussion.

However, Brown, looking forward to taking on minnows East Kilbride in their William Hill Scottish Cup fifth-round tie at Airdrie's Excelsior Stadium on Sunday, revealed his admiration for his manager in dealing with tough times.

The Scotland skipper said: "He speaks very well to me and we go through a lot of things together.

"He's coping quite well. He's always positive, I think that's a good thing.

"He doesn't put his head in the sand. He's out looking at new ideas to see what we can do better and how we can improve as a team, and players and formations as well.

"I'm not going to say he's thriving on it but he is bouncing through it."

Brown admits the match against the Lowland League side, who have beaten Forres Mechanics, Stenhousemuir and Lothian Thistle to get to this stage of the competition, is something of a trip into the unknown.

"Their last game against Lothian Thistle will probably be what we have to prepare from as there is not too much on video of them," said the midfielder.

"But it's going to be a good game for us.

"The games are coming thick and fast I think that's what we need to try to bounce back and get back to winning ways.

"It's going to be a physical test anyway. They are going to come out all guns blazing the first 10-15 minutes and try and put us under pressure but it's how we deal with it."