Auston Trusty insists Celtic are in a better position than their last trip to Hampden
Auston Trusty reckons Celtic head into Sunday's Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final against St Mirren as a "better team" than the side that crumbled against the Buddies in their previous Barclays Hampden encounter.Wilfried Nancy oversaw the Hoops for just the third time in the Premier Sports Cup final at the national stadium in December, where the Paisley outfit secured a deserved 3-1 victory.It marked a third consecutive defeat for the Frenchman, who would shortly exit with former manager Martin O'Neill returning as interim boss for the second occasion this campaign to stabilise matters.Celtic ground out a 1-0 home victory over St Mirren in the William Hill Premiership last weekend and remain in contention for a league and cup double.Reflecting on the cup final setback, a low moment in Celtic's season, 27 year old USA defender Trusty said: "Yeah, obviously that was an unfortunate result, but it's a new game, new competition and we are a better team at this point in time."So hopefully we can continue on the path we're on and get the win. I think we just had a tough spell, and then bounced back."That's football, highs and lows throughout the seasons."I know Celtic historically doesn't really have too many lows, they have a lot of highs, which is a great thing."But it's inevitable that you have some tough spells and we were going through it, and now we're bouncing back from that and here we are." Craig McLeish has urged his St Mirren squad to tap into their Premier Sports Cup triumph as they aim to overcome Celtic once more and pursue an improbable cup double this campaign.The Buddies' caretaker manager was promoted from his youth coaching role following Stephen Robinson's departure to Aberdeen last month, after the cup-winning gaffer left Paisley.While he has made adjustments to the side's approach, McLeish insists that the squad's knowledge of what's required to succeed at the highest level will prove crucial.He explained: "I don't know if it's even striking a balance between the styles of play."I think it's more about the occasion, that the players have been there in the semi-final at Hampden, and they've played against Celtic in the final and they've come out on top in both the semi-final and the final."So it's more the experience of the players being there however we decide to set up and play, because I need to be flexible with it as well."I'm not stuck with 'this is how we're playing, no matter what', we need to adjust to the opposition."I really back the players and I'm really confident with the group that we've got, that the biggest bit is that they've been there. They've felt this occasion before."On a one-off occasion, in a semi-final at Hampden, we've been there, we've done it and we're more than capable of doing it again."Click here to sign up to our sport newsletter, bringing you the top stories and biggest headlines from Ireland and beyond
