Parkhead trip made Hastie realise he was in the big time

Rangers target Jake Hastie classes the stand-out moment of his Motherwell breakthrough as playing at Celtic Park.

The 19-year-old has won the Ladbrokes Premiership player of the month award after bursting into Stephen Robinson’s team in spectacular fashion, scoring five times in eight matches and attracting major interest from Celtic and Hull. Reports also broke that he was poised to sign a pre-contract deal with Rangers hours before he collected his award.

Hastie vowed to focus on today’s Lanarkshire derby when asked about his future, but admitted his meteoric rise had hit home during Motherwell’s recent defeat at Parkhead.

“It’s all speculation,” Hastie said. “I just focus on my football. I’m enjoying it at the moment and that’s the main thing. ”

Asked how he deals with the speculation, Hastie said: “The gaffer and all the backroom staff are all brilliant with me. It’s been a crazy few months, [but] I’m absolutely loving life. When we went to Celtic Park, I stood back a wee bit, especially playing in front of a big crowd like that. It made me realise I am playing at a big level here.”

Hamilton midfielder Scott Martin is relishing the pressure of today’s derby. The 21-year-old, who became an expert in Angus derbies during loan spells with Forfar and Arbroath, and who played in Hamilton’s 2-1 defeat by Motherwell in December, said of derby games: “I really enjoy them. The last one was my first top-flight derby game and I know the result went the wrong way for us but I really enjoyed it.

“I don’t think it matters whatever level it is, a derby is a derby and you need to go and win. The pressure is on to win. Last season [with Arbroath] we played in four or five and there were four weeks in a row when every game was a derby. You were trying to get yourself up for it every week.”