GARY Mackay-Steven today vowed to help Celtic pile the pressure on nearest rivals Aberdeen - by surging nine points clear in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Mackay-Steven and his Hoops team mates take on Hamilton in front of the BT Sport cameras in a league clash at New Douglas Park tonight.

The meeting with Martin Canning’s team gives Ronny Deila’s side an excellent chance to stretch their lead at the head of the top flight table.

The second-placed Dons play St. Johnstone at Pittodrie tomorrow and Mackay-Steven reckons they can turn up the heat on them by triumphing this evening.

He said: “If you are sitting back after a victory on the Friday night, waiting for the other results, it’s always nice. It can be a bit of a psychological factor.

“When another team is playing on the Friday before you, you are certainly aware of the result. So maybe it has an effect.

“I wouldn’t say it bothers me personally, but I suppose it could, depending on the different scenarios in the league table at any given time. It could make a difference."

Mackay Steven added: “Aberdeen are not far off us. They are playing well and winning games, so it is definitely a title race.

“Last season they had a challenge for quite a while. Obviously, we finished well ahead of them in the last few weeks of the season, but Aberdeen are sticking by us this time. They are on our heels, playing well, and we need to take them seriously.

“It can only benefit us. We need to be at the top of our game, we can’t rest on our laurels and just think we will win the league easily. It’s certainly far from that. We need to be at the races every single week.”

Meanwhile, Mackay-Steven has warned Celtic not to expect to thrash Hamilton, who they defeated 8-1 at Parkhead last month, on the artificial surface at New Douglas Park.

The winger admitted he wasn’t a fan of astroturf pitches and predicted the Accies would have a point to prove after their heavy loss last time out.

He said: “They will be looking at this game as one where they want to put that 8-1 defeat right. So we need to be right up for it, because we know they will be. It won’t be an easy game, especially at Hamilton.

“If you start off well and take your chances, results like that last one can happen. On the night, we played really well and kind of took all of our chances. It would be nice if we did that again on Friday, but I’m not expecting it.

“I prefer grass and would take that over artificial every time. Even a bad grass pitch. Grass is what football should be played on.

“I see the pros for astro and I don’t dislike it, but my personal opinion is grass is better every time.”