Postecoglou’s pride in turnaround as Celtic close to clinching title

ANGE Postecoglou hailed his Celtic players’ “extraordinary effort” in brushing off a slow start to the season to move to the cusp of league glory.

Celtic’s 4-1 victory over Hearts on Saturday put the cinch Premiership out of the realistic grasp of defending champions Rangers.

Goals from Daizen Maeda, Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley and Giorgos Giakoumakis sparked celebrations among the Hoops support, although no one within the club was declaring themselves champions just yet.

It was fitting that Celtic came back strongly from an early blow – when Ellis Simms netted for Hearts inside three minutes – as that has been the story of their season.

Defeats against Hearts, Rangers and Livingston in their first three away games, followed by a home draw with Dundee United, left Celtic in sixth place with 10 points from seven matches.

Few would have foreseen a newly-rebuilt Celtic team going on an unbeaten run from that point that now extends to 30 matches and getting on top of a Rangers side which went unbeaten in last season’s campaign.

Postecoglou said: “I’m sure when the story is written of the season, I think people will probably reflect that it’s been a fairly outstanding effort on all fronts, no doubt.

“I know I talk a lot about this is just the first step of the rebuild and we are going to be better but I don’t say that to dismiss the extraordinary effort it has taken this year and the achievement of this group of players.

“After round seven when we had already lost three games and drawn one, you kind of know that if you are going to be champions this year, we are going to have to be pretty good from then on. And we have been pretty good.”