Celtic Send The Statement We’ve Been Waiting For All These Many Months.

Sometimes you can feel the tide turn. Sometimes you can feel the momentum shift. Something did in those last minutes against Motherwell; this side showed that it had a couple of those crucial qualities that a team which wants to win things must demonstrate. Tonight, we showed the other qualities that a winning team needs to have. The ability to put teams to the sword.

I think we may have witnessed something big here. That first half was as spellbinding and brilliant as anything we watched under Ange Postecoglou. Everything that was missing at Motherwell in the first 45 minutes was there to be seen this evening at Celtic Park. The flair, the passion, the fire in the belly, the dazzling football and, most importantly, the goals.

Six of them. By six different players. Incredible. When the seventh came it was arguably the best of the lot of them, from a seventh different player. And although we conceded a late goal, we’ve reduced the goal difference column to a single strike in one night of football. As I’ve said, I don’t think it will come to that, but it’s important to do it just the same, because of the psychological edge that can give you if your opponents know that dropping anything puts us back top, and that’s now the reality that they are living with going into the weekend.

Nothing matters at the moment except that we just keep on doing what we’re doing now. Scoring. Winning. Three points bagged, and we move on to what’s next. For weeks we wanted the statement victory and tonight we got it. The gears all clicked tonight, and suddenly we’re looking forward to the game at Tynecastle instead of feeling dread over it.

The second half was naturally a lot quieter than the first. We do have that game at Tynecastle to come, and the changes were all made with that in mind. It’s good that we had the luxury of being able to wrap some of our players in cotton wool; I was particularly pleased that Callum came off. Apparently, he’s a booking away from a one game ban. Get it at Tynecastle Callum, miss the St Johnstone game and make sure you’re ready for Livingston and Ibrox.

It was great to see one of our young players on the pitch tonight, and Daniel Kelly got goal number seven with a superb strike. I was well impressed by him, and in particular the way he took that ball and lashed it home. Superb.

There are literally no negatives from that at all. Every player did his bit, we scored the goals, we got the points and we sent a clear message to the rest of this league; you write this team off only if you are quite mad. Ten goals in two games, six points in the bag and the feeling that finally, at last, at long last, and just in time, Celtic has hit its stride.

Magical tonight, and just what we needed to see.