Celtic were untouchable in the first 27 minutes of this encounter in Ayrshire, scoring four times through Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda and Matt O’Riley (2), while Furuhashi also hit the post with a penalty. While their level dipped for the rest of the match, with Kilmarnock recovering from a dreadful start and some individual errors, Postecoglou was full of praise as his team regained their 12-point lead over Rangers, moved to within seven points of retaining their league crown and broke through the 100-goal barrier.

"First half the boys were outstanding,” said Postecoglou. “It was some of the best football we’ve played all year with the way we moved the ball and ourselves around the pitch. After last week’s win [in the Old Firm derby against Rangers] you’re looking at where the focus is. But it was important we started with a good intent. Second half we got a bit sloppy and disjointed and could have defended a bit more. It shows there’s a real good understanding within the group of the kind of team we want to be. You can talk in cliches about taking every game as they come but they handled it in a responsible manner.”

Asked whether he believed his team now wants to sprint to the title, Postecoglou responded: “I think so, and it is important, because in a perfect world, you design your team to play its best football at the most important part [of the season]. That's not discounting the fact that you've got to be in this position to start with, so we've had to be pretty strong all year, but this is the time of year when things get decided and you want to be playing your best football then. I thought the attitude was first-rate, it's not an easy pitch to play on. It’s a difficult opponent desperate for points. You can come here and try to get three points and move on but we came with an intent to play our football.”

Ange Postecoglou salutes the Celtic fans after the 4-1 victory over Kilmarnock.

Postecoglou made three changes to his starting XI, with key men Cameron Carter-Vickers, Aaron Mooy and Jota all making way for Yuki Kobayashi, Tomoki Iwata and Sead Haksabanovic due to the plastic surface. It was only Kobayashi’s third full 90 minutes since joining from Vissel Kobe in January and the manager was pleased with the 22-year-old’s mature display.“I thought he was really good,” added Postecoglou. “It wasn’t easy to play on the surface and they were physical. It’s been a different kind of period for us with a game a week. I’ve got a squad that can take two games a week. We’ve got to fill those gaps working hard at training. The boys have done that. Training is really competitive. They’re coming in ready to go even though we’ve not had the games to do it. It was good to get him 90 minutes but in all the games he’s played he’s hardly put a foot wrong and he’s growing as a player.”

Ange Postecoglou explains why Celtic played 'best football of season' and singles out 'really good' newcomer