PEDAL TO THE MEDAL
Hoops No.1 Hart demands champions put foot down for title run-in
JOE HART insists serial winners Celtic are preparing for a Parkhead show of power in the final push for silverware.
The Hoops have regained the upper hand in the race for the title following Saturday’s win against St Mirren and are gearing up for a crack at the Scottish Cup in this weekend’s semi showdown with Aberdeen.
Second half goals from Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi, and Adam Idah seen off Saints with Ross County’s defeat of Rangers yesterday rounding off a great weekend for the champions.
Hart is relishing the battle and he insisted the experienced campaigners in the Parkhead dressing room will be leading the way for the new Bhoys in the bid to land more medals.
Hart – who has won five trophies with Celts – said: “What will it take in the remaining games? Just stay in our lane, stay focussed. Drawing on the power of a club which is used to winning things and not being intimidated by that.
“Learning from that, with the boys who haven’t done it learning from the boys who have. Just encouraging people that we have some simple tasks ahead of us. We said it before the game and we keep saying it, we don’t just rock up on a Saturday.
“We work really hard through the week to have a way of playing, to have solutions when people do make it tough for us.
“So we just need to rely on the hard work we have done all season and come good at the right time.
“This is a big week. We have the Scottish Cup and you don’t want any pressure off. It was hard not being involved in the League Cup, but we got beat fair and square at Killie and we had to move on.
“This is a completion we want to be involved in to the very end. We want to be there on May 25.”
Hart was thrilled to tick off another win against Saints at the weekend as Celtic found away to break down brave Buddies in the second half.
The former shot stopper – who turns 37 on Friday – insisted the Hoops squad are maintaining a laser focus on each challenge in their path.
Hart said: “Yes, 100 per cent. There is no other way to do it, you just have to keep it simple and take it game by game and training session by training session.
“We have momentum, but we are hardly a team that have had to suffer a couple of draws or defeats in a row.
“We are a team that wants to win and wants to keep winning. When we play it well we are hard to stop.”