Georgios Giakoumakis turned his sights on Hibernian after getting his Celtic career up and running with his first goal in Saturday’s 2-0 home win against St Johnstone.
It was a first start for the Greece striker since signing from Dutch side VVV-Venlo in August for a reported fee of £2.5million and he came up against a stuffy Saints side.
In the 35th minute, and with Celtic huffing and puffing against the Perth side, Giakoumakis was on hand to convert an Anthony Ralston cross before a late penalty from full-back Josip Juranovic sealed three well-deserved cinch Premiership points.
It was a fourth successive win for Ange Postecoglou’s side, who now get ready to face Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday night, with Giakoumakis acknowledging that there is a long way to go in the league campaign.
He told Celtic TV: “We are focused on every game in a different way.
“We have to prepare again. We have to be happy until Sunday and then we have to think about the next game.
“It is a marathon and we have to keep going.
“St Johnstone was a tough team to play against, a team focused on the defence and played with three central defenders, so it was more difficult than usual but finally we scored.
“It was something that I was looking forward to, scoring at this stadium in front of these people, it was amazing. It was exactly as I imagined it, so I am really happy.”
St Johnstone have won only two of their first 10 league games, sitting in 10th place, and boss Callum Davidson looks forward to having a full squad at his disposal again.
He said: “We have had a lot of injuries to key players. Jamie McCart has been out, Liam Gordon has been out, we lost Jason Kerr (to Wigan), Shaun Rooney has been out, James Brown has been out, so a lot of my key defenders have been out.
“I was delighted to get Liam Gordon back, he is a big player for me. At the same token I lost Murray Davidson and Michael (O’Halloran) on Friday.
“We are looking for that little bit of luck with injuries. Once we get the consistency back in team, the selection, if we can work hard and play like that, a little bit better on the ball, then results will come.”
