Celtic seek quick finish as SPL title beckons

IT HAS always been a question of when, not if. Blessed with the best squad in the SPL by some distance, and assisted by every other club’s acceptance of their superiority, Celtic have been destined to become champions since the season began.

They will win the title today if they beat Hibernian and Motherwell lose to St Mirren. If they do not wrap it up this afternoon, they will have another chance in a fortnight, in their first, yet-to-be-announced, post-split fixture. (It will be fitting, incidentally, if that game is against Motherwell, for Stuart McCall’s team have come closer than any other to mounting a sustained challenge).

And if they don’t do it then, they will have another opportunity in three weeks. But they will do it.

Given this feeling of inevitability that has gripped the game since last August, it is a surprise to many that it has taken Celtic so long to win the league. Yet that feeling in itself must have played a part: after all, when you believe you are fated to do something, it is hard to try your utmost to get it done.

Rangers have experienced the same thing in the Third Division, albeit against significantly weaker opponents than the ones faced by their Glasgow rivals. Expected to win every league fixture, they have often failed to impose their will on games in the way that Ally McCoist would have liked.

Across the city, Neil Lennon has felt a similar frustration. He surely accepted that Celtic would sustain the odd domestic defeat, but can hardly have bargained for the six so far suffered by his side in the league, in addition to the League Cup semi-final loss to St Mirren.

Of those half-dozen SPL losses, four have been away from home, including recent reverses at Ross County and Motherwell. Indeed, if this were earlier in the season, Lennon would be particularly concerned about his team’s form on the road: the last time they won away in the league was at Inverness nearly two months ago, since when they have picked up just two points from four away games.

But today they are champions at home, where they have scored 15 goals in their last three games, 27 in their last six. They have not beaten Hibs in two previous meetings this season, but seem determined to end the campaign on a high.

“We’ll be looking to bounce back with a win after not picking up three points in the last match,” defender Charlie Mulgrew said. “Everything is geared towards that.

“We’re not concentrating on Motherwell, we’re concentrating on ourselves and we want to get things done sooner rather than later. We’ll look to win against Hibs and then we’ll see what happens. We have never concentrated on Motherwell. It has always been about us. There have been a couple of matches which we should have won and we never, and we’re disappointed with that.

“The motivation has been there from the manager to try and push us on and to get us to win. It hasn’t always happened, and that’s why we’re determined to beat Hibs.”

Pat Fenlon’s team have more than pride to play for themselves, of course, as they still have a faint chance of getting into the top six. To do that they need to win today, and hope that Aberdeen and Dundee United draw, while Kilmarnock lose at home to Dundee.

A draw is a plausible outcome at Tannadice, but the other two results could be beyond Hibs. Nonetheless, Mulgrew expects them to fight all the way.

“Every team raises their game against Celtic,” he continued. “It’s always hard whoever you play, home or away, because everybody is up for it. We’ll need to be ready to match that.

“It is quite tight down there [in the fight for sixth place]. It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend. A few teams are pushing for it and it’s hard to say, because anybody can beat anybody.”

Celtic have enjoyed some excellent one-off results, but Mulgrew accepted that it was difficult to pinpoint one part of the SPL season that was the most enjoyable or that showcased his team at the height of their powers. Ominously, he suggested that the coming weeks could be just the time for Celtic to offer the most convincing demonstration of their superiority.

“It’s hard to pick a specific moment that has been the best. Winning games, in general, is good, but hopefully the best is yet to come when we win and clinch the title,” he said. “We’ll need to look to win every game. The manager wants us to have that appetite and we have to show we can respond to it.”

Celtic’s failure to respond correctly when the title was still some months off was understandable. Now the prize is in sight, however, they are altogether less likely to slacken off.

Hibs will try to frustrate the champions, hoping to keep the game tight and goalless for a time before gradually trying to exert extra pressure in search of the breakthrough. If it is 0-0 at half-time, the impatience of the crowd may well communicate itself to the Celtic players.

On the other hand, if the home team take a reasonably early lead, that appetite of which Mulgrew spoke could return with a vengeance. And, in that case, Hibs might resign themselves to the impossibility of getting the better of Celtic in this individual game, just as they and the ten other SPL clubs have done over the season as a whole.