Ange Postecoglou's FULL reaction to Celtic 2-1 Rangers

How do you reflect on the cup final win overall?

I’m very pleased and very proud of all the players, and the staff. We’ve worked awfully hard for a very long time and part of the process of working hard is to get rewarded for it at some point so that you can keep working hard, and the boys got the reward today, which I thought was well deserved for them and you know what it means for our supporters, so it was a great day for the football club.

What does it mean to you to follow up on last season's cup win by retaining the trophy?

It’s not about me, or how I feel. That’s the expectation when you’re at this football club. I’ve done interviews with Gordon Strachan – do you know how hard it is following guys like that and Martin and Brendan and Neil Lennon? So when you take this job you know that’s the responsibility, but it doesn’t diminish the achievement. We still celebrate it and don’t take it for granted that you just roll up in a Celtic shirt and it’s given to you. You’ve got to earn it and we earned it, and that’s the greatest thing for me. Everything we’ve got in the last 18 months since I’ve been here – a bit longer now – we’ve earned through hard work and real belief within the group. So I take great pride in that.

You went 2-0 up and had an element of control and then had it taken away from you but does the fact that you were able to wrestle it back please you?

Yes, It’s a cup final and rarely will one side dominate, although I thought we were fantastic in terms of our football, in such a big game with the atmosphere the way it was. We still scored two great goals and we had an opportunity to break the game open, but credit to Rangers, they stuck in there and went a bit more direct and we had to defend a lot. And obviously, when they got the goal they got a bit of encouragement from that, but again, this time is not just one-dimensional and it’s not just about what we do when we’ve got the ball. They’re a really resilient group of players and we had to defend. The back four were outstanding in dealing with what they had to, in terms of crosses, and the guys in front of them continued to work hard. We had to navigate a sticky patch then, but we finished strongly and probably should have put the game away, but overall I thought we earned it tonight by doing all facets of the game.

READ MORE: Detailed Celtic ratings as Kyogo brace wins League Cup v Rangers

Another two goals for Kyogo in a cup final how valuable is it to have a player like that in the squad?

It’s invaluable to have a player who is willing to do everything in his power to help the team. It’s not just about his goals, and obviously, his goals are important – the most important thing – but he (Kyogo) just works so hard. Again, he’s another one who, whatever rewards he gets is hard-earned. He’s not floating about out there waiting for a chance. He’s working his socks off to do things that other strikers won’t do because he knows it’s the right thing for the team. But I think players at this football club are often measured by how they perform on the biggest of stages and he delivers again. And you look at him, the size he is and the players he’s up against, and he doesn’t shirk any of it. He puts the opposition under pressure, he’s so clever with his movement and he wants to be front and centre when the opportunity’s there. He was outstanding today and he has been outstanding from the moment he joined our football club.

What will this do for you for the rest of the season you have a trophy in the bag, you are nine points clear at the top and in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup what will this do to your confidence levels?

We enjoy today. I think it’s important we enjoy today because, as I said, this group works awfully hard, not just the players but the staff on a daily basis. I’m pushing them all the time and there’s a reason I’m pushing them and that is for days like today. There’s no point talking beyond today and not letting them enjoy what they’ve achieved because I’m going to ask them to go again come Tuesday when we’re back in training. So for them to come back into the building and again put in an effort, I need to let them enjoy themselves and get rewarded tonight because they deserve it. That’s what they’ll do and once we’ve enjoyed it and celebrated it in the right and proper manner, then come Tuesday we’ll focus on St Mirren away. That’s a tough game against a tough opponent at a tough venue, and that’s what our focus will be.

Given your record and your consistency this season, how far can you push this team?

It is not written anywhere that there's a limit. I really believe that is the beauty of what we do. Why should we settle for somebody else's measure of how good we can be? I've never believed in that, not about myself personally or the people I work with. My message is the same whatever external measure there is as to how good we can be we are not going to be guided by that and our measure will be how much we can improve in everything we do. The guys want that, they demand that and I have got a brilliant staff who deliver that on a daily basis. We have been outstanding and we want to keep pushing the envelope as to how good a team we can be.

You mentioned the defence and the central defensive pairing of Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt were outstanding weren't they?

I thought Carl (Starfelt) and Cam (Carter-Vickers) were superb and have been for a very long time. People don't understand - they see us dominating games and they think have got an easy job. They sometimes have the hardest job as they are defending one-on-one. You see most other teams especially defenders have the cover of an extra player but they have got to defend one-on-one every week against opponents. We knew today that there would be moments in the game where they would have to defend strongly and I thought they were both real defenders. They love the art of defending. They do not shirk the physical side as they are brave and I thought Alistair Johnston was great defensively today as well. Even Greg Taylor the number of headers he wins for a guy of his size is exceptional. It is a factor that the lads won't settle for us being a team that plays one way. Whatever needs to be done gets done as this group of players will do what has to be done to win a game of football.