Ange Postecoglou building ‘belief’ at Celtic

Ange Postecoglou believes Celtic’s hard-fought win against Hearts at Tynecastle on Wednesday night helped further build the bond and belief he is nurturing at Parkhead.

In what is traditionally one of the toughest grounds in Scottish football to visit, the Hoops emerged with a 2-1 win to keep them four points behind champions Rangers at the top of the cinch Premiership.

Ahead of the home game against Dundee United on Saturday, the former Australia boss, who took over at Celtic in the summer, marked the victory down as further sign of progress.

“It helps with the bond but it also helps with belief as well,” said Postecoglou, who will not be looking to add to his squad before the transfer window closes.

“You understand the challenges going into the game. That’s what I consistently praise the guys on, in that they have just been a resilient group of people.

“Players and staff have had some enormous challenges since the first game.

“Even when things weren’t going well in terms of the results early on, we weren’t making excuses, weren’t asking for time, weren’t saying it was going to take a bit for people to settle, we just rolled our sleeves up and got on with it.

“The result from that is we go to Tynecastle, a difficult place against a team that is going well, and get a victory when we had some challenges on the day, giving a guy a debut and (with us) playing one or two days before.

“It further fuels that belief they have in what we are doing and that in turn creates that bond.

“It is something that self-fulfils itself, once you buy into something that you don’t let whatever potential impediment stop you from what you want to achieve.”

Despite the Old Firm game against Rangers at Parkhead next Wednesday night beginning to