Alistair Johnston on Celtic fan adulation and why gap to Rangers could get bigger

Alistair Johnston was already becoming a darling of the Celtic support, but his man-of-the-match performance in last weekend's win over Rangers has sent his reputation soaring.

The Canadian right-back has been a revelation since joining from CF Montreal at the end of last year, straight on the back of making three appearances for his country at the World Cup in Qatar. The 24-year-old had previously shown that he could handle the Old Firm environment after making a strong Celtic debut in the 2-2 draw at Ibrox on January 2 before starring in the Viaplay Cup final win at Hampden in February.

He revealed he has been stopped in the streets by adoring Celtic fans in the aftermath of Saturday's 3-2 win that has all but wrapped up a second consecutive Premiership title for the Parkhead side. While appreciative of the acclaim for his own efforts, Johnston admits the patchy overall display of the team has been his main concern.

"We kind of stay off social media so we don't get too much of it, but I've gotten a lot of nice text messages and people on the streets have said some really nice things about it which is always a nice feeling," Johnston said. "At the same time I don't think we played particularly well. We strayed a little bit from our football so the exciting part is that we still won the match but we know that there's levels to that and we can play so much better than that. And that's what's exciting about this group. We're only scratching at the surface of our potential.

Celtic's Alistair Johnston celebrates the 3-2 win over Rangers last Saturday. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

"I'm just really excited to be a part of it. I've already seen some growth within my game in handling those atmospheres and those moments. That was already my third match against Rangers and I've really enjoyed them. Those kinds of matches are why you signed for this club. You want to play in those big matches that mean that much to both yourself and your supporters. I've been quite happy with my performances in those matches and especially this past weekend."

Johnston credits Rangers with “frustrating” his side last Saturday, but he insists that Celtic are capable of taking their game to even greater heights, potentially widening the gap that already exists between the Old Firm rivals. "I think they've tried a couple of different things now tactically and in this past match I think they definitely did some things that frustrated us so that's kudos to them but at the same time our biggest aim is to get out of there with three points and we've done that," he said. "That's what was most important for us. A lot has been made about closing the gap but we're not focused on that. We're just focused on ourselves and we know that if we continue to get that one per cent better every day and continue to reach for the potential that we know this group has then we feel really good that not only are we going to maintain a gap, or whatever you want to call it, that we can push on to new heights and new limits. We know if we keep doing that the sky's the limit for us.”