Goalkeeper Gordon targets strong finish for Celtic

The Glasgow giants have won just two of their past five Scottish Premiership games and successive draws against Hamilton and Dundee has seen their lead over Aberdeen at the top of the table cut to just one point, albeit they have played a game less than the Dons.

However, the Hoops were in scintillating form against Morton as they clinched a place in the last four of the Scottish Cup to set up a mouth-watering tie with Old Firm rivals Rangers and Gordon revealed it was a call for unity from manager Ronny Deila, players and backroom staff before the match that had inspired their dominant display.

The Scottish champions are away to Glasgow rivals Partick Thistle on Saturday and the Scotland stopper says Celtic are aiming for a long winning run in their quest to claim a coveted domestic double.

"This is the business end of the season and we need to go and put a run together," Gordon said.

"We talked about that before the game, making sure we had a good start in the game, getting everybody together and pushing on towards the end of the season. This is the time to turn it on, to start a string of results, and it started on Sunday.

"We drew a line under a poor performance mid-week which everyone was aware of and said this is it, it's time to go on, it's time to put a run of games together.

"We have to forget about the Dundee game and put on decent shows. We know if we do that we will get the fans behind us and we will go and have a big push for the rest of the season.

"We talked about it during the week and we reminded ourselves about it before the match to make sure we were up for it and ready to push on. We are now in a semi-final and top of the league, so let's go on and finish strongly and see what we can get at the end of the season."

Elsewhere on Saturday, Aberdeen will aim to keep up the pressure on champions Celtic when they host Kilmarnock at Pittodrie. The Dons cut the gap at the top of the table to one point as they came from behind to defeat Partick Thistle in midweek. 

Kilmarnock, in comparison, sit second bottom of the Premiership - just eight points above Dundee United - and are still looking for their first win under new manager Lee Clark.

Third-placed Hearts travel to Dens Park to take on a Dundee side still smarting following their 4-0 defeat to Championship leaders Rangers while Inverness Caledonian Thistle host Hamilton.

Fixtures (1500 GMT unless otherwise stated)

Friday

Motherwell v Dundee United (1945 GMT)

Saturday

Partick Thistle v Celtic (1230 GMT), Aberdeen v Kilmarnock, Dundee v Hearts, Inverness CT v Hamilton