With the league sewn up and the sun shining down on Celtic Park on Saturday, it would have been easy and even understandable for the home players to have slipped into holiday mode for the visit of Hibernian.
The looming Scottish Cup Final may be one of the reasons why that never happened, but manager Brendan Rodgers has also set various other targets for his players to hit between now and the end of the season to keep their senses sharp and their levels high.
One of those, Anthony Ralston has revealed, is the challenge of breaking goal records, with the post-war mark of 111 league goals set in 1966/67 (albeit, Jock Stein’s Lisbon Lions rattled those in in just 34 games) now in their sights.
The three they scored to see off Hibs at the weekend took them level with Rodgers’ Invincibles class of 2016/17 on 106, and with two games left, Celtic are serving notice to their remaining opponents – Aberdeen and St Mirren – that they will be going for goals as they close out the Premiership campaign.
“That’s one of the targets,” Ralston said.
“We’ve been reminded of that, what our targets are and what we want to achieve. We want to beat records. We want to keep pushing. There’s never nothing to play for. There’s always goals you want to achieve.
“We’re getting closer to that target. We’ve got a few games left to complete, some achievements and targets that we’ve got. We did well to get closer to the ones [on Saturday] and we just need to keep going again on Wednesday.
“The message before the game was we need to continue to be professional and get the job done. It’s another game of football for us, but we’ve got a lot to play for until the end of the season. You can’t switch on and off at this level.
“So, the message was clear that we’re going to play the same as we have been through the season. And I was glad we did that as a team.
“It’s just the mindset in terms of what’s drilled into us on a daily basis in training and how we operate, it’s very hard to do the opposite. You’d need to really try and not be professional and not take things as serious. We’re just as, a group, not that type of boys. We’re very professional in how we go about our business.
“We know there’s a lot to play for. You can’t switch it on and off. So, we’re just going to get the job done and that’s it.”
The immediate incentive for the likes of Ralston and other squad men like Auston Trusty, who were both included in the starting XI for the game against Hibs, is obvious, though he knows that Alistair Johnston will come back into the team for Hampden as long as he is fit and able.
All Ralston can do is show his best any opportunity he gets, whether there is a cup final on the horizon or not.
“We know that’s coming up, it’s no secret,” he said.
“But it’s not just on the 24th that we turn up and play in the cup final. We’ve got all these games before that we need to take care of and go in with the right attitude to prepare us to be at that game and arrive in the best place possible as a squad.”
Afternoons like Saturday, as well as the one that lies ahead as Celtic are presented with the Premiership trophy this weekend, are something that Ralston doesn’t take for granted, and while he makes no secret of the fact that he would like to play more regularly, he also feels blessed to be in such a position.
“I’ve been here all my life,” he said.
“I’ve been here since the age of eight years old and worked all my life to be a Celtic player. I’m a Celtic fan, I come from a Celtic family. So, days like [Saturday], playing at Celtic Park, my friends and family coming to the game…I mean, I’d be silly to say that I want anything else.
“Of course, you want to be playing and I’ll continue to keep my head down and work for that. But you know, Celtic’s my job and this is where I love to be.
“Sun’s beaming down, playing a game of football at Celtic Park. If you’d said that when I was a kid that that was what I was going to do, then I wouldn’t believe you. I never take it for granted.
“My family will all come along to [trophy day] and we’ll enjoy that day when it comes. But we still have another game on Wednesday to take care of before that, so that’s it.”
