Scott McDonald hoping for SPL redemption
Friday, 6 November 2009 20:29Scott McDonald hopes to put the pain of his Europa League misses behind him when Celtic return to Clydesdale Bank Premier League duty at Falkirk on Sunday.
The striker was twice thwarted by Frank Rost in the first half of the goalless draw against Hamburg in the Nordbank Arena last night when he should have scored.
Consequently, despite a good overall performance, the Parkhead club's European aspirations hang by a thread. Celtic remain at the bottom of Group C on two points, five behind second-placed Hamburg with two games remaining.
Tony Mowbray's men need to beat Hapoel Tel Aviv at home and Rapid Vienna away while hoping the German Bundesliga side lose both their games.
However, while European redemption has to wait until the match against Hapoel at the start of December, McDonald - who was replaced by Marc-Antoine Fortune just before the hour mark - hopes to get back on the domestic goal trail against the Bairns if he is selected.
He told Press Association Sport: 'I am looking forward to getting the boots back on for Sunday and hopefully putting a few in the net - that's if I play.
'You just never know what's coming, that's just the way it is at the moment. Everyone is fighting for a place and there is good competition.
'Marc-Antoine Fortune is back as well so you don't know what the manager is thinking. But we have to turn up at Falkirk and have the right attitude.
'Falkirk are a good footballing team and they will make things very difficult for us. So it is up to us to show professionalism and get the win.'
McDonald thought his name was on the scoresheet when strike partner Georgios Samaras handed him his first chance on a plate with 17 minutes on the clock.
The former Motherwell striker curled his shot towards the far corner but Rost stretched to parry the ball wide.
McDonald said: 'I'm pretty unhappy about it but I won't let it get me down. I thought I had scored but you have to give the keeper a bit of credit.
'It does help when you are six foot six, and he got down very well, very quickly. You always think you could have done a bit more when you don't score but it's encouraging that we made the chances.'
