Celtic manager Martin O'Neill saw his side slip three points adrift of Scottish Premier League leaders Rangers and then insisted: "It's not the end of the world." The champions wearily crawled into the winter break with a 1-1 draw at Aberdeen this afternoon as Rangers extended their lead with a win over Dundee at Ibrox.
But the Northern Irishman was far from downhearted as he looked to a refreshing break and he claimed the destination of the championship was still in Celtic's hands. "It's not the end of the world - far from it," said O'Neill. "We have still taken a point and it's still in our own hands. We still have to play Rangers twice and after the Kilmarnock game I feel we have gained a point and it's still within our own grasp."
"We know that matches are always going to be difficult against them. But we are definitely looking forward to the break now. The players have played a lot of games and they showed today how tired they were and how much they are looking forward to the break and we'll see if we can refresh ourselves," O'Neill continued.
But another concern for O'Neill was the sight of Henrik Larsson forced to leave the field with a head injury after scoring his 30th goal of the season. He was at his opportunistic best to get ahead of Philip McGuire before he was hurt in the resulting collision, but his boss still singled him out for special praise.
"Obviously he is a bit dazed," added O'Neill. "But hopefully he will recover from that quickly. The goal he took I thought was magnificent. He has got in and seen one thing and it was a world-class goal from a world-class player. It was as bravely as you could imagine."
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
