One of the ancillary delights of any victory over Rangers occurs the following day.

That’s when you treat yourself to half a dozen of the main Scottish newspapers titles, find yourself a quiet space and then luxuriate in the reports of the game.

Of course, it works in reverse too. I can never quite bring myself to read anything after a defeat in this fixture because you’re beset by the paranoia that comes with imagining that the vast majority of the mainstream football scribes are delighting in a Celtic defeat. But madness lies at the end of that road and so you try to avoid it.

I remember men of my dad’s generation being particularly exercised by a match report of Celtic’s 4-0 Scottish Cup final win against Rangers in 1969. The Hoops had actually gone into that game as outsiders because they were missing a couple of key players – including the late, great Jimmy Johnstone, then near the peak of his powers of tormenting Rangers defences.

Plus, the Rangers team of the late 1960s were a very fine outfit indeed; perhaps one of the best that Ibrox had produced. They’d reached the semi-finals of the old European Fairs Cup and had beaten Celtic home and away in the league championship.

The Hoops, though, were imperious that day in a match that was often marred by the overly-physical approach of their opponents and another pitch invasion by their fans near the end when they knew that all was lost.

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What had irked my dad and his friends (they often talked about it many years later) was a report in the Sunday Mail by its venerable chief football writer Allan Herron, who chose not to focus on Celtic’s powerful display of intelligent, attacking football. Instead, he lamented the poor quality of the match, beginning his report with: “Thank God that game is out of the way”.

All the other reports saluted Celtic’s quality in overcoming very tough opponents.

Among Monday’s newspaper reports was one in the Daily Record which was almost identical in tone to Herron’s 54 years ago. It began: “They promised a cup final classic. They produced a car crash instead.” It carried the heading This error-strewn contest amounted to nothing more than a running skirmish… until ref Nick Walsh put the match ball out of its agony as an act of mercy at the end.

I felt that this was a highly misleading account of Sunday’s game. In particular, it failed to do justice to the many moments of incisive football and individual brilliance produced by Celtic which overwhelmed their opponents for the first hour of the game.

Certainly, it didn’t live up to pre-match expectations but much of this was down to the Hampden playing surface. Several of the other reports – though not as grudging as the Record’s – were decidedly downbeat.

Celtic Way:

Beforehand, the pundits on Radio Scotland had praised the appearance of the pitch which, to the naked eye, looked handsome and in far better fettle than it was in each of the two semi-finals. Within a few minutes, though, it became clear that the surface was bumpy and uneven and would mitigate against any attempts to produce the fast, slick passing movements which Celtic, in particular, like to deploy.

Yet, though Rangers appeared initially sluggish and slightly off-the-pace of the game, Celtic began gradually to find a rhythm once they had divined how the pitch was playing. Both goals were the result of rapid, one-touch incisions which cut Rangers wide open. There were several others of the same ilk, producing opportunities which Ange Postecoglou’s men passed up.

Apart from a 15-minute spell after Rangers’ goal, Celtic were in total control, which they exerted not by playing balls long and wide but by remaining true to their passing and movement from back to front.

The midfield three of Reo Hatate, Aaron Mooy and Callum McGregor played rapid, incisive passes as they interchanged with each other while gradually bringing the wingers and attacking full-backs more and more into the game. It was a display of attacking precision that simply blew Rangers away. Some of Hatate’s touches and his near 360-degree vision were sublime.

Several writers had rightly commended this Rangers team for putting together a winning streak of their own going into this match. In Celtic’s last meeting with them, they could have had no complaints if the Ibrox side had carried the day. Michael Beale had been getting a decent tune out of his players and no Celtic supporter I know was expecting anything other than a very hard-fought contest.

Rangers may not have been at their best but much of this was due to Celtic sticking to their principles of playing the game quickly and eloquently at ground level. Their fitness levels also looked superior.

As we enter the business end of the season Celtic are approaching peak form and have no injury concerns. This is almost entirely due to the hard work during the close season and getting two competitive games in Australia during the World Cup shutdown. The warm weather work during that trip has also helped maintain their fitness levels.

Postecoglou’s strategy of making several changes around the 60-minute mark in most games also cuts down the risk of injuries when legs are tired and opposing defences resort to last-ditch tackles.

Celtic had seven players whose performances on Sunday were of the quality that makes the difference in these games. In no particular order these were: Hatate, Mooy and McGregor plus Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizan Maeda, Alistair Johnston and Cameron Carter-Vickers.

If these seven keep playing like this then only bad luck will prevent them taking a record-breaking eighth treble and a season’s goalscoring tally that will approach the 120 mark.

This is a good time to be a Celtic supporter. And I don’t see it ending any day soon.