Football: McStay's quest

Paul McStay has urged his Celtic team-mates, who have not won a trophy for five years: 'Let's end our lean years now.'

McStay, who was 30 at the weekend and has been with the club since he was a teenager, wants silverware to cap his testimonial year and to repay Celtic's long-suffering fans.

On the eve of tonight's Coca-Cola Cup semi-final against Aberdeen at Ibrox, McStay said: 'It's gone on for too long. It's time it was finished. It's up to us to put it right.

'Winning the Coca-Cola Cup would take the pressure off us. The longer we go without a trophy the more it will build up. If we can win this one it would ease that and help relax us and the fans. It would also get us into Europe early in the season.' McStay, who has not yet lifted a trophy as captain, will not be satisfied to merely reach the final.

'Silverware is what the fans want and what we want. Come back in May and I'll tell you if we've repaid the fans.'

McStay looks certain to recover in time from a gashed shin which kept him out of Saturday's 2-0 League defeat by Falkirk. The Celtic manager, Tommy Burns, also has injury worries over the defenders Tom Boyd and Brian O'Neil and his young striker, Simon Donnelly, but says he is 'hopeful' that all will be fit for selection after a final training session.