John Kennedy wants his double winners to end the season as record breakers.
On Monday night the young hoops turned on the style to demolish Queen of the South 8-0 at Hampden to lift the SFA Youth Cup.
This morning at Lennoxtown (kick-off 10am) they face Rangers knowing that three points will see them past the 57 points that the Ibrox kids collected winning the 2007/08 championship.
Since winning the title Kennedy’s side haven’t eased off in any way rattling in 15 goals without reply against Rangers, Hibs and Queen of the South to extend their winning run to 15 games on the bounce.
“We want to finish on a high,” the youth coach emphasised. “Rangers collected 57 points a few years ago, we’re sitting on 56 so it would be nice to finish it off in style with 59 points.
“Our aim was to win every game from Christmas and we’ve done that so far. The double is in the bag but we want to finish on a winning note.”
Celtic have won 18 out of 21 matches so far in the SPL as well as all five in the SFA Youth Cup and three out of six in the Next Gen Series.
Earlier in the season they drew with Aberdeen and Motherwell but after losing 2-1 to Hearts on the back of a defeat away to Barcelona it’s been wins all the way with Dylan McGeough, Filip Twardzik and Tony Watt regularly on first team duty.
“The players are on a 15 match winning run which is excellent,” Kennedy added. “They’ve grown over the season, individually and as a team they’ve came on leaps and bounds.
“People see it as a five in midfield but it’s never really like that. There’s a real freedom and there are two wider players coming in and going beyond the midfield. We also have two attacking full-backs.
“They are intelligent players, sometimes we just put them in their positions and let them play with freedom. You can see that and that’s when they are at their best.
“Monday night at Hampden was very pleasing, if we hadn’t shown the right attitude and commitment it would have been a different game.
“The players were well warned and knew that they had to start properly and they did that, to score so quickly was a blessing then the game opened up.
“We had more space and gave our creative players the chance to cut them open and it was pleasing to see that happen.
“On the sidelines we had a wee go at them because there are always things to improve on but you can’t ask for much more than to win a final 8-0.”
Marcus Fraser has played in all 15 matches of the winning run and made his first team debut against Rennes in November.
The 17-year-old plays with a maturity way beyond his years and knows exactly what is demanded of a Celtic player.
“We were favourites going into the match at Hampden but we had to go on the park and show what we can do,” the defender stated.
“We moved the ball around sharp and got the goals we deserved.
“Over the season we’ve stood up to be counted, moved the ball about well and played the Celtic way.
“There were two 1-0 wins away to Dundee United and at home to St Mirren that really tested us. I thought that we’d score at Dundee United but at home to St Mirren I couldn’t see us breaking them down till Filip scored with ten minutes to go.
“Those were two very big results for us. There has been a lot of highlights over the season, the boys have been fantastic and just kept on going.
“We couldn’t concentrate on what Hearts were doing, we just had to win our games and see if they would drop some points, that’s what happened.
2011/12 Youth team roll of honour
Hibs 4-3 Watt 3, F Twardzik
Marseilles NGS 0-1
Dunfermline 2-0 Atajic, Herron
Aberdeen 1-1 George
Barcelona NGS 1-3 Watt
Dundee Utd 5-0 Williamson F Twardzik, og, Watt, Gormley
Motherwell 1-1 F Twardzik
Hearts 2-0 Herron, Williamson
St Johnstone 3-1Herron, McGeough McGregor
Man City NGS 4-2 Herron, George 2, Watt
Kilmarnock 5-1 P Twardzik 3, F Twardzik, Watt
Aberdeen 4-2 George Bogle 2, Watt
Man City NGS 2-1 McGeough, Fraser
Kilmarnock YC 5-0 Irvine 2 George, McGregor, Herron
St Johnstone 2-1 Bogle 2
Barcelona NGS 1-5 Watt
Hearts 1-2 George
Marseilles NGS 3-0 F Twardzik, Toshney George
Dunfermline YC 5-0 Irvine, Atajic, Chalmers, Twardzik, Watt
St Mirren 2-1 Watt, Herron
Inverness CT 6-1 Jones 3, Atajic, Watt, Fisher
Aberdeen 4-1 YC, F Twardzik 2, Watt, Herron
Dundee Utd 1-0 Watt
St Mirren 1-0 F Twardzik
Inverness CT 5-0 Gormley 2, McGregor 2, Fraser
Kilmarnock 4-1 F Twardzik, P Twardzik, Gormley, McGregor
Motherwell 5-2 Watt 4, McGregor
Dunfermline 4-0 Herron, George, Watt, McGregor.
St Mirren YC 4-1 Watt 2, Herron, F Twardzik
Rangers 3-0 Herron, Alabi 2
HIBS 4-0 Jones, Alabi, Herron, Atajic
Queen of the South 8-0 F Twardzik, Irvine, McGregor 3, McGeough 2, Herron
SCORING LIST: Watt 21, Herron 12, F Twardzik 11, George 7, McGregor 10, Gormley 5, P Twardzik 5, Bogle 4, Atajic 4, Jones 4, Irvine 4, McGeough 4, Alabi 3, Williamson 2, Fraser 2, Toshney 1, Chalmers 1, Fisher 1, OG 1
