Celtic title victory in Old Firm game perfect for Scott Brown

Scott Brown, below, battles for the ball with Rangers' Daniel Candeias. Picture: SNS.

Brown knows Celtic could have scored more to really rub it in to his rivals but the skipper believes hitting five goals on a historic day is still almost as good as it gets.

Celtic clinched a championship at home against Rangers for the first time since 1979 and did so with their biggest league victory over the Ibrox side. Goals from James Forrest, Tom Rogic, Callum McGregor and a double from Odsonne Edouard handed manager Brendan Rodgers yet another win over Rangers – his ninth in 11 matches. Brown was again instrumental in the middle of midfield.

“It’s lovely, the way we did it, in the sunshine, in front of our own fans by beating Rangers,” he said. “It was all about our own performance today. We let ourselves down last week against Hibs but we managed to bounce back. We had spoken about bouncing back in style and we did that today.”

It was put to Brown that there might be some disappointment at failing to score more goals since Celtic had plenty of chances to do so in the second-half.

“There are no disappointments today,” he replied, firmly. “Look at the way we played. We’re five-nil up and you’re talking about disappointment? Come on. Yeah, we felt we could have scored more. We created chances, they just didn’t go in. We’ve managed to win 5-0 and you have to take every single positive from that.

“We will reflect on the game in the next couple of days and, if there was something we could have done better and we could have scored more goals, then we’ll take that. But to be perfectly honest, 5-0 at home to win the league is absolutely outstanding.

“It’s the first time the title has been won against Rangers for a long, long time at Celtic Park. So it’s a great honour to be here and be part of it.” Brown rated the comprehensive victory as among the most memorable of his triumphs over the Ibrox side.

“There have been a lot of good wins against Rangers recently but, for me, that has to be right up there,” he said.

“We’ve managed to keep a clean sheet, as well. But just the emotions of today, how we played, the style and just managing to play how we wanted to play, that made it special. It’s all come good at the right time.”

Brown delivered a chilling warning to those who might be seeking to challenge Celtic’s dominance.

Rangers hoped to do so but are regularly coming up short. Aberdeen have also been left in their wake. Only Motherwell stand between Rodgers’ side and an unprecedented double-treble in next month’s Scottish Cup final.

Rather than ease up as the season nears its end, the skipper suggested they will have more time to work on tactics. The Celtic players headed  to Tenerife for a training camp after yesterday’s game.  They will return ahead of Sunday’s trip to face Hearts at Tynecastle.

“We are going to get better,” said Brown. “There is a lot more time for us now to focus in training. You usually get weeks between games now, so we can work on tactics more, work on  how we’re going to press teams.

“Sometimes, when it’s Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, it’s hard to get consistency in training, to work on our formation and style of play.

“There are places up for grabs in a cup final now, so everyone will be wanting a chance and I’m sure the gaffer will rest a couple of players here and there,” he added.

“It’s all about our willingness to win now, to keep producing that form every week. We’ve got a few hard games coming up so we need to stay on it.”