Mowbray wants more from McDonald

Celtic manager Tony Mowbray has urged striker Scott McDonald to guarantee himself a place in the side by scoring goals.

The Australia international paid for the chances he missed against Hamburg when he was left on the bench for Sunday's trip to Falkirk - but when the Hoops went behind in the second half, McDonald was thrown on in place of Paddy McCourt and scored two goals in the 3-3 draw.

Mowbray threw down the gauntlet to McDonald, saying: "There is competition for places but I'm delighted that he scored a couple of goals. From my perspective, you'd like to be in the position where you don't leave Scott on the bench because he scores every single week."

He added: "But he has had a few weeks where he has had some chances and the keeper has made good saves but hopefully those goals will help his confidence."

Mowbray claimed his side were "mentally tired" from their trip to Germany in midweek.

"It was a tired performance from us," he said. "It was probably as poor as we've been this season and the team didn't play well in the first half.

"It was the same defence which kept a clean sheet in Hamburg but mentally it was a tough day for the team.

"Generally, we have had mentally-tired performances after games in Europe and I think that was one.

"Yet, if we want to take a positive, the team tried to rally themselves from a losing position and showed great endeavour to get back into a winning position.

"They could have felt sorry for themselves, they had a tough week, getting back from Europe in the early hours (of Friday). Obviously we are disappointed to drop points but we have to move on."