Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou insists his players are still to reach their peak following 7-0 demolition of St Johnstone

Ange Postecoglou is adamant the best is still to come from his Celtic side after claiming his players are still to reach their peak this season.

The Hoops briefly moved nine points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership on Saturday after dismantling St Johnstone 7-0 at Parkhead with goals coming from Reo Hatate, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Daizen Maeda, Josip Juranovic, Liel Abada and Matt O’Riley x2.

It was another significant step towards reclaiming the league title and fired an ominous warning ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers.

Celtic now have a superior goal difference of 19 at the top of the table, with Postecoglou still eyeing a potential Treble in his first season in charge.

The Greek-born Australian admitted: “That’s been our mantra all year, to be better than the week before. That’s what we’ve been building towards.

“We have a lot of contributors which means our training levels are at the best they have been.

“We are getting some good weeks into training because there are no midweek games so those things are in our favour in terms of producing our best football.

“But it’s not like they just roll out there and it just happenes. They worked their socks off.

“When we didn’t have the ball, we were determined to get it back. When we do that we have the quality in the team to blow teams aways like we did.”

Saturday’s game also marked the long-awaited return of Japanese striker Kyogo Furuhashi as a second half substitute following his four-month absence with a hamstring problem.

Postecoglou was delighted to see his League Cup final hero back in action but admits he’s unlikely to hand Kyogo a place in the starting line-up against Rangers.

He stated: “I’m pleased for him because he is a great guy and a super footballer.

“He was so important at the beginning of the year when we really needed somebody to step up.

“The whole group has watched him work really hard on his own in rehab, so it was great to get him back out there. Whenever somebody is out for a significant amount of time you have to be a bit more careful.

“I wouldn’t think we will be throwing him in next week. I doubt he’ll start but if we can get him some more game time in the next couple of weeks you think he would be ready to go for the last three or four games.”

Meanwhile, an unnamed Celtic player was involved in a car crash outside Parkhead on Saturday evening.

Emergency services attended the scene but there were no injuries suffered by any of the parties involved.

Police Scotland made enquirised but no charges have been brought against the player.

A Celtic spokesperson said: “We can confirm a player was involved in a road traffic incident on leaving Celtic Park.

“Police attended the scene, enquiries are complete and no charges have been brought against the driver.

“The club will continue to liaise with the authroties moving forward in relation to the incident.

A Police Scotland spokesperson commented: “Officers received report of an 18-year-old male pedestrian having been struck by a car on London Road in Glasgow around 5.50pm on Saturday, 9 April, 2022.

“Emergency services attended and the male received treatment at the scene for minor injuries.”