FOUR goals up and an extra man on the park everything was going perfectly according to plan, but that didn’t stop Ange Postecoglou from demanding more from his players.

The Hoops were dominant throughout the entirety of the 6-0 demolition of St Mirren at Celtic Park and Stephen Welsh revealed he and his team-mates were ordered to keep up the pressure even though the three points were secured by the break.

Doubles from Liel Abada and David Turnbull in the first 45 minutes partnered with a red for St Mirren enforcer Alan Power after a horror challenge on Turnbull made the result a formality.

But Welsh admitted the players were left in no doubt over the manager’s expectations in the second half as Turnbull finished his hat-trick and Odsonne Edouard got in on the scoring action.

“The intensity was there right until the end”, said Welsh.

“That’s what the gaffer said at half-time. Even though we were four goals up and they were a man down, he said that the next 45 minutes we had to keep up that intensity, show a level and show how good we were.

“I thought we did that. We could have scored more goals but winning 6-0 you’ll definitely take that.”

Welsh, 21, was equally delighted with another clean sheet and is confident Celtic will continue to produce big results and leave opposition teams, both domestically and in Europe, struggling to compete at their current level of performance.

The Hoops continue their hectic schedule on Thursday as they take on AZ Alkmaar in Europa League qualifying and Welsh is determined to continue their run of form.

“Obviously when they got the red card it’s very difficult for them with 10 men. But we kept the intensity up and kept the passing crisp. 

“We were creating so many chances that it could have been anything in the first half.

“We showed it again in the second half – we didn’t let the intensity drop and were still creating chances and trying to score goals with all the forwards getting involved.

“We’re just taking it each game now. We’ve a massive game on Thursday. Going away in Europe is always going to be a tough game. So we’ll rest and recover and get ready for that one and try to keep the run going.

“We showed the other night that we can compete with any team at that level.

“With the intensity we are playing at, they found it hard to handle.

“I thought it was a really good game against AZ. We’re expecting another tough one – another high intensity game. We know we can go over there, create chances and score goals.”

After recording a second 6-0 win in a row in the league Celtic look a changed team as the Ange Postecoglou game-plan continues to take shape.

And Welsh reckons results have picked up as the squad takes shape and players new and old continue to adapt to a new system.

He added: “It’s probably just getting used to the way we were playing.

“It was very new. We’ve brought in new players as well who have now adapted to the system – like Liel, Kyogo and Carl. We’ve got another couple in as well.

“They’ve adapted to the system that we want too play very well and I think it suits them – fast, high-paced, intensity. It really suits the players we’ve brought in.”