Strachan says derby has changed

Strachan prepares his players at Lennoxtown for Sunday's game

Celtic manager Gordon Strachan says the Scottish influence in Old Firm games is taking the derby back to its roots.

The last encounter between Celtic and Rangers ended with a scuffle between several Scotland internationals.

And the incident brought one-match bans for Celtic's Gary Caldwell and David Weir of Rangers.

Strachan said: "It has gone more retro and gone back to the 1980s. There are more local lads playing now and that's added more tension."

The last encounter between the two sides ended 2-1 in favour of Celtic, in a match that saw Rangers' Carlos Cuellar sent off, Celtic's Scott McDonald missing a penalty and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scoring an injury time winner for the home side.

Less than two weeks later, the Glasgow rivals meet again in the final Old Firm derby of the season with Celtic needing another win to maintain their SPL title challenge.

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Celtic currently lead Rangers by two points in the league but the Ibrox club have three games in hand.

"We have to win again. It would make it interesting for everybody. What we have to do is win to make ourselves happy and our fans happy," said Strachan.

"We have just got to play and if we win it's great, that makes us happy."

Meanwhile, Strachan believes the determination of midfielder Barry Robson is exactly what is required in such intense matches.

He said: "Their energy at this time of the season has been good, so that's something I need to think about.

"We are happy with Barry but he is never happy with himself, he always wants to be better. He always beats himself up if one pass goes astray.

"He is so intense about getting better, sometimes we have to pull him back. However, we like his enthusiasm."