Hamilton boss says Celtic thrashing is forgotten ahead of re-match

Hamilton manager Martin Canning will not put his players under any extra pressure to atone for their thrashing by Celtic - because they have already done so.

Accies kept three consecutive clean sheets following their 8-1 defeat at Celtic Park on January 19 before falling to a late 2-1 defeat against Ross County last weekend.

Canning is confident his side will provide stronger opposition for the Premiership leaders on Friday night.

When asked if they had a point to prove, Canning said: "I think we have done that already. We know on the night we didn't compete well enough. We covered the miles but we didn't get close enough and make it difficult for Celtic and that's something we need to rectify on Friday night.

"Of course it hurts, it hurts everybody involved in a result like that. But you also know if you let Celtic get into their stride, you are running the risk of something like that happening. That's something we need to make sure we are well aware of and compete better than we did.

"Nobody is dreading it, we are looking forward to it. When you play in a game like that, you want to get back out there and put it right and show you are better than you showed in the previous game.

"There will be no extra pressure put on them by me to say we need to make up for that game. I would assume the pressure will come from themselves and knowing they are better than they showed that night."

Meanwhile, Canning has dismissed Ronny Deila's claim that the artificial pitch at New Douglas Park is "slippy".

Deila likened the surface to an ice rink following his team's 2-1 win in October and repeated his assertion this week.

Canning said: "We train on it every day and I've never noticed that it's slippy. I watched the game where Celtic played Dundee United up there and Gavin Gunning slipped and Leigh Griffiths ran through and scored, and that's on grass.

"So I don't think the pitch is any more slippy than a wet grass pitch. You just deal with the conditions."

Accies winger Dougie Imrie added: "I've been back here for two years and I've not slipped on it once."

Canning claimed their pitch lends itself to better football than most Premiership surfaces.

"We enjoy playing on our pitch," the Accies boss said.

"The game at Ross County last week, and it's nothing against the ground staff there but the pitch wasn't in good condition. It was dry, bobbly and bits of it were really soft. It's difficult to play football on.

"With our pitch you know you can prepare for a game of football. You know it's two teams who are going to get the ball down and try and play whereas when you go to places like Ross County, St Johnstone and Motherwell at times as well, and this isn't having a go at the club or ground staff, it's just the weather we have in the country to try and keep grass pitches good for a long period of time, it's difficult.

"The game totally changes, it becomes a game of getting the ball out from the back and literally trying to turn teams and getting it up the park as quickly as you can. Here, you can get a good game of football.

"I'm a big believer in artificial pitches. I'm 34, I've been playing on it for years and training every day and I'm fine, so I don't think it does any damage to your body.

"We've got the statistics to prove it, you are as likely to get injured on grass as that."