The peeks behind the Celtic curtain that show how Postecoglou has kept title train firmly on track

The origins of it all were arguably laid down as early as October when the Hoops beat Motherwell 2-0 at Fir Park and Rangers were being held 1-1 at Ibrox after Hearts snatched a last-minute equaliser.

Celtic's league win reduced the arrears at the top of the table to just four points. It was also the day that Postecoglou boldly proclaimed they would run their own Scottish Premiership title race and not be distracted by external influences or what Rangers were doing.

Postecoglou said: “I thought the Premiership was over, mate. I’m not looking at the table anymore. We are just doing our own thing so that result has zero significance."

Since then, Celtic have run their own race in terms of the Premiership battle with their city rivals.

In recent weeks Postecoglou has told of how they felt they needed to embark on an almost perfect run since they lost to Livingston in September. The club's win ratio then was 50 per cent after just six games.

The manager may have well have been indulging in some mind games about how grim and bleak their season looked - but it certainly did the trick.

Celtic have since gone 28 games undefeated in the Scottish Premiership. They have won 24 and drawn just four. It is a yield of 76 points from a possible 84 while scoring 64 and conceding just 15 in the process.

Kyogo Furuhashi celebrates his goal against County

There was little wriggle room for the men in green and white to lose focus in the title race. So much so that Postecoglou referenced it himself last month when he said: "We have to as a group be really conscious of the fact that any time we start thinking more than a day from where we are we can lose focus.

“Since the sixth game of the season, we have literally had to be just about perfect to be where we are today. To do that, any sort of distractions we have, had to be put to one side, regardless of other results or performances or people from the outside."

At various junctures in the season, Postecoglou has given us a peek behind the curtains into his mindset. The Aussie has even shed some light on his footballing psychology and signposted what drives him to succeed.

Like in February when he was asked what makes up the characteristics of a Postecoglou signing due to his amazing success rate in several areas of the transfer market, the response was unequivocal. It gave us all a rare insight into his footballing psyche.

Postecoglou told how he doesn't just sign good players, he signs good players whom he believed would fit into his team and his system as well as buying into his footballing philosophy.

He said: "I went to Clairefontaine which is France's academy of football where they produced some of their greatest players. I was really keen to understand what they saw in players and how they identified them.  I kept asking questions as I really wanted defined parameters of what they were looking for. An exact science. There was a coach who had been there for the last 25 years and he was getting sick of me asking questions and he wanted me to shut up. He leaned over and he said in French and luckily I had an interpreter and he said 'look, I just know'.

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"What he was trying to say to me was that he had been doing the job for 25 years and he had seen enough of young talent coming through to know instinctively if they fit. There is a little bit of that in me and in the last 25 years, I have had a clear idea of how I want my football teams and players to play. When I look at a player I probably look at them differently from everyone else. When I look at a footballer and I analyse him I can see him playing in my team and that is always the biggest factor for me. I am looking for the one that will fit. Can he play as a full-back in my team? Can he play as a centre-back in my team?"

How's that for an answer?

He was at it again this week after Celtic lost their 33-match domestic unbeaten run to Rangers in the Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden Park.

The treble dream may have ended but all the talk was that they could also now blow a gasket in the Premiership title race and drop points in Dingwall to somehow let Rangers back in.

Despite leading their rivals by six points at the summit with five games to play - before they travelled to Dingwall to meet Ross County - the narrative being spun was that Celtic were potentially under more pressure than Rangers.

Postecoglou brushed those claims aside and took it all in his stride with this wonderful offering...

"For me, particularly with this football club, is that we want to be a team that plays the game in a certain way," he said. "It is not easily attainable - and maybe it is never attainable the way I want us to play because I will always seek improvement. When you have that as your goal then a loss shouldn't derail your efforts and commitment to a cause. If you let a loss derail you then you will let a win derail you also. Success and failure have equal demons within them."

Captain Callum McGregor at full-time

Celtic triumphed 2-0 in Dingwall to remain six points clear at the top of the table and Postecoglou in his usual deadpan manner announced after the match: "We never lost momentum, we lost a cup semi-final in extra time and in terms of momentum we have been very good for a very long time and that is why we sit where we sit."

It was a not so subtle and gentle reminder to everybody that you don't call the league in September or October. The development of Postecoglou's Celtic team during a season of supposed rebuilding has been nothing short of outstanding.

Perhaps the late and great master Johan Cruyff summed it all up best when he said this: "Teams don't learn. Individuals within the team learn. Development is an individual process even when conducted in a team environment."

That is a statement that applies to Postecoglou's Celtic hands down. The Aussie's hard work and that of his team may well pay off this Sunday in the final Glasgow derby of the season at Parkhead in what could be a title-clincher in all but name.

What is it that Argentine legend Diego Armando Maradona famously said? "When people succeed it is because of hard work. Luck has nothing to do with success."

Postecoglou and his Celtic team have worked damn hard while running their own race. Luck has played no part.

His football psychology all season has been his ability to treat success and failure in exactly the same manner.

Psychology? Mind games? Pressure? None of them has derailed Celtic.