Murty refuses to be drawn in by talk of a title race

GRAEME MURTY denied all knowledge of title-race talk stirring last night, insisting that Celtic will not give a second thought to his team’s win over Hearts.

Goals from January loan captures Jamie Murphy and Russell Martin secured a 2-0 success to move Rangers to within six points of the Ladbrokes Premiership summit.

The champions return from their Europa League disappointment in St Petersburg to tackle Aberdeen at Pittodrie this afternoon and Murty stressed: ‘I’m not sure we are even in Celtic’s minds.

‘They are top of the league for good reason. They are going to take care of themselves and play as well as they possibly can.

‘We did our job and that’s the message we will take on. We did our job defensively, keeping a clean sheet but, also, our forwards did the job by putting the goals in at the right times.

‘We will just concentrate on us and make sure we finish the season as well as we possibly can.

‘I said to the players they could start the end of the season, if that makes sense, really well and take care of our own business.

‘I was really pleased they were hungry to keep getting better and improve, pushing ourselves forward and putting ourselves, hopefully, in a good position to enjoy the latter half of the season.’

When asked what Pittodrie outcome might be a positive for Rangers today, Murty grinned: ‘What game? All we can really worry about is ourselves.

‘Okay, there will be very many

interested eyes from our group but we have to take solace and comfort from taking care of the business in a situation where we haven’t always done that.

‘That’s the really pleasing thing. As good as we were at times and as many chances we created, I’ve got a group there that are a little frustrated because they know they can do a bit better in all aspects.

‘That, for me as a manager, is a very happy thought because we’ve a group of people who are now striving to push and kick on and take everyone with them.’

Martin’s 88th-minute clincher finally wore down the resolve of Hearts goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, who should be knocking on the door of a Scotland call-up on recent form.

‘No one could have grumbled if we’d won by more,’ said Martin. ‘My last goal was April last year, so maybe that’s why I went a bit mad in the celebration. That was a tap-in with my left foot as well.’

Hearts boss Craig Levein had no complaints about his team’s second defeat in 17 games as he hailed McLaughlin’s work.

‘He has got a fantastic record and playing at the top of his game for sure,’ said Levein. ‘A lot of clean sheets. A lot of them are down to the defence but just as many are down to him. He kept the score down here.

‘But I am just really looking forward to Tuesday (against Kilmarnock) now and trying to get rid of the bad taste in my mouth.

‘We didn’t do enough in the match to warrant winning the game, for certain. I think even to get a draw. The result probably flatters us.’