RYAN Christie must be the only current Celtic player with cause to rue the injury time winner from Scott Brown against Hamilton which allowed the Parkhead side to go into today’s Old Firm BetFred Cup final with a two-point lead on their rivals in the Ladbrokes Premiership table.

As goalkeeper Fraser Forster was clocked on the GPS tracker as he ran fully 100 yards to join in the celebrations hitting a top speed which was higher than anything Christie managed all game long, the goalscorer and captain swiftly ordered him to pay into the pot for the club’s Christmas night out.

“You’ll laugh at this but I have been fined because he got a bigger top speed last night than me," said Christie. "I got 30 miles an hour and he got 30.5! So I’ve been fined £20.

"Broony issued the fine, although I actually think he was slower than the pair of us!” added Christie. “It goes into the Christmas fund. It was amazing, though, the ball was barely in the net and he [Forster] was in my face! I was like ‘how did he get there’.”

It remains to be seen how the late midweek late drama affects the dynamic at Hampden Park today between these historic rivals but it can’t be bad news for Celtic.

“I’m not too sure how it changes it,” he said. “But I know that in the last week we were looking at the game at the weekend and on Wednesday and looking to take six points. The way we finished the game puts us in the best position we can be before the weekend.”

Having won nine domestic trophies in a row, and the last 30 cup ties (only one of which went to extra time) the law of averages alone suggests that Celtic have to come a cropper some time. Christie spent most of the club’s invincible season out on loan but has been told that people said the same things back then and the inevitable never happened.

“To be honest we don’t think about it at all,” said Christie. “The run is probably the last thing in my head. We don’t feel any other pressure, thinking when is it going to come to an end. And from speaking to a couple of the boys, it was probably a similar thing to the invincible season, they were just taking it one game at a time and not really thinking when is it going to come to an end.”

All the talk this week has been about the availability or otherwise of Odsonne Edouard. But it should not be forgotten that it is Ryan Christie, with 16, who is the club’s top scorer, and not the Frenchman. While he seems likely to play off the right or even off the frontman, Christie insists he could even play a false No 9 if required on the day should the Frenchman not make it.

“Is their banter about it with Odsonne?” said Christie. “No, he doesn’t take it very well. He’s the same as me, he just wants to score as many goals, our whole attack do.

“But it has been good, the gaffer said to me at the start of the season where he saw me playing and it was probably just a little more pushed on, just behind the striker, compared to last season.

“Playing in that position you need to score and create goals so it’s something I’ve been trying to work on. When you are playing in a team like Celtic with the players you’ve got around you, you are always going to get two or three chances in a game and it’s down to handling that pressure and I quite like going into the games knowing that I am one of the players people are looking to try and create something. Last season was 12, so fingers crossed there’s a few more. But I’ve got my targets for before Christmas and I’ve still got a bit to go.”

Christie is an early candidate for Scotland’s player of the year and a goal or two in a winning effort at Hampden today would only enhance those credentials. But as swimmingly as everything seems to be going for him, right now, it isn’t quite enough to get his dad Charlie off his back at times.

“He’s calmed down a little bit but any proper bad games I have, he’s the first one to tell me,” said Ryan. “I think after the Livi red card, he didn’t speak to me for three days! That’s the worst its been this season. But all the family will make the journey down for it, it will be nice to have them all there.”

There was once an in-joke, repeated ad nauseam by Brendan Rodgers, about how Ryan had gone for Charlie’s son to Charlie being Ryan’s dad. There can be no doubt now that this transformation has taken place. “It’s a nice story him playing here and me following the same path he did,” Christie added. “He’s a mad Celtic fan and was when I was growing up and it’s now that he has the same buzz for Celtic and I’m playing as well.

“Do I remember watching him play? Just little bits. Probably more when Inverness were in what’s the Championship now. I remember him more there, towards the end of his career. I don’t remember him being the unbelievable player he says he was. But he’s quite the legend up there. As everyone, including himself, tells me.

“When he was at this club, it was a really good squad of players who were doing really well, so he struggled to get in. But I am sure he lives it through me a bit now.”

Is a BetFred Cup final against Rangers just another game? Yes and no. "Look, Rangers are by no means a bad team," says Christie. "hey are a good team, we know that, we can see that by how well they are doing domestically and in Europe, same as us. But I’ve noticed in my time at Celtic that our mindset is that we manage to keep out all the outside pressures. It is a big game but we will treat it like any other game."