Celtic have been dealt a fresh injury setback just as the Scottish Premiership title race heats up, with Alistair Johnston’s recovery taking an unexpected turn ahead of Sunday’s clash with Dundee.
Following the international break, the Hoops return to action knowing a strong response is needed after their disappointing 2-0 loss to Dundee United.
As the title race intensifies, Martin O’Neill’s side could be trailing leaders Hearts by as many as eight points before kickoff, depending on earlier results.
As it stands, momentum is slipping away from Celtic, who have managed just seven points from their last five outings.
With rivals Rangers also in the mix, the pressure is mounting and the margin for error has all but disappeared in this tightly contested three-way battle.
However, just when a boost was expected, Johnston’s situation has taken a frustrating twist.
The Canadian defender, sidelined since October with a hamstring injury, had been closing in on a return after resuming training.
In a bid to accelerate his comeback, the 27-year-old travelled to Canada during the international break to continue his rehabilitation.
Yet, in a cruel turn of events, he suffered a setback during his final training session.
“Alistair [Johnston] has had a wee bit of a setback,” the manager said. “He went away with the Canadian national side, was doing some running and had a bit of a setback on his final day of training, which was really disconcerting for us.
“In the wider scheme of things, for the length of time he’s been out, hopefully it’s not too bad.”
Consequently, his return timeline has now been pushed back, forcing Celtic to reshuffle plans at a critical stage of the season.
While there is still hope he could feature again, time is rapidly running out with the campaign nearing its conclusion.
The gaffer continued: “It has delayed things a little bit here. We were hoping to have him, I’m not saying for this weekend, but we were hoping to have him in a couple of weeks, maybe having played some bounce games.
“That will just have to be parked and put to the side for the moment. It’s a shame.”
As the run-in approaches its decisive stretch, Celtic must now dig deeper without one of their key defensive options, knowing that every remaining fixture could define their title hopes.
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