FALKIRK boss John Hughes today insisted Saturday's visit to Celtic Park holds no fears despite the Bairns having lost their opening two games of the season.
But Yogi admitted his side will have to tighten up at the back if they are to get their season up and running following defeats by Rangers and Hibs.
Although he watched substitute Mark Stewart almost snatch a point at Easter Road with a last-minut
e shot which crashed back off Andy McNeil's left-hand post, the former Hibs skipper admitted it would have been a travesty for his old club had they been forced to settle for a point.
He said: "We could have got something at the end but we didn't do enough and it would have been unjust as Hibs could have scored more goals, especially in the first half."
Hughes was aghast at the sloppy defending which saw Colin Nish score in just 23 seconds, the Hibs striker adding a second before Paul Hanlon nodded home what proved to be the winner in a five-goal thriller only two minutes after the interval.
While Michael Higdon kept the Bairns' hopes alive with a double of his own, Hughes said: "You maybe get away with it in the lower leagues in terms of conceding an early goal but doing it twice is a sin, you really do give yourself a mountain to climb.
"Why we lost is self explanatory, you cannot defend the way we did and concede the goals we lost and hope to take something from a match. That's not having a go at my back four, it's having a go at the whole team. But all credit to the boys, we had a go. There's a wee bit of pride in me that my boys took part in a match that was enjoyable, end-to-end stuff. We needed to shake it up a bit at half-time because we are better than we showed. There were some good passages of play, some good stuff but I expect more from my team as a whole."
Asked if he was worried at having no points with Celtic on the horizon, Hughes said: "We've played Rangers, we have Celtic this weekend and we've had Hibs at Easter Road, three hard games. But we'll go to Parkhead and have a go, that's my style. We have to regroup, get the boys together and go through it."
The full article contains 413 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
