RYAN CHRISTIE insists staying humble is the key to hoarding silverware.
Celtic remained on course to pick up an incredible 12th trophy on the bounce by beating St Johnstone to set up a semi-final date with Aberdeen.
Christie was the Hoops goal hero when his 81st-minute free-kick sneaked in to see off Tommy Wright’s men.
And the winger claims Neil Lennon’s all-conquering squad are not drunk on success.
Instead, Celts — now unbeaten in 34 domestic cup games — soberly treat every competition they enter like its their first chance to win something.
With an historic QUADRUPLE Treble now close Christie, 25, said: “It’s nice to look at these records after the win, but for us going into this game we just knew we had to get the result by hook or by crook and we did that.
“Winning games and probably humility gives us that mentality.
“Is it by treating every game like it’s the first one? Yeah, exactly that.
“Teams are absolutely desperate to knock us out of the Scottish Cup and teams want to take our scalp in the league. So we need to enter the game and do as well as we possibly can.
“It’s often talked about in the media how well we’ve done in the cups up until now, but we don’t take that into consideration at all going into these games.
“It’s just another must-win game for us and with that kind of mindset and attitude it’s hopefully enough to get us win after win.
“The more the game went on today and we missed a few chances you start to get that feeling the ball just wasn’t going to go in.
“So it was relief more than anything, and it was the perfect way to bounce back from the disappointment of Thursday night.
“The gaffer touched on it at half-time that the conditions didn’t suit the way we wanted to play and told us it would be frustrating at times. We just had to be relentless and keep going.
“When we finally broke the deadlock we felt that relief and we had to shut up shop at the other end.
“The most important thing with cup football is getting the win and going into the next round.”
Christie stepped up to whip a free-kick into the box after James Forrest had been brought down by Jamie McCart.
At first it looked as though Christopher Jullien got the final touch, but the Frenchman admitted it wasn’t his strike.
So Christie gladly accepted his 20th goal of the season. He added: “Is it my goal? Yeah. I was happy to see it going in. Big Jullien has told me he didn’t get a touch on it so I was happy to see it going in.
“The most important thing was just to get over the line in what was a difficult game.
“I didn’t know if Jullien had got a touch. In a situation like that I am only trying to put the ball into an area where if someone doesn’t get a touch on it then it might sneak in at the back post.
“It doesn’t matter who gets the goal, it was just important we got the win on a frustrating afternoon.
“We have booked ourselves another trip to Hampden so we are very happy.”
Last year’s Scottish Cup semis were a nightmare for Christie, who had a spell at Pittodrie on loan.
A brutal collison with ex-Dons team-mate Dominic Ball left him crocked for months with a sickening eye injury.
This time round, Christie is desperate to play in the final.
He said: “It wasn’t a nice memory for me in the Scottish Cup semi- final against Aberdeen last season, but let’s hope lightning doesn’t strike twice.
“It was always going to be a tough semi-final no matter what team we got. Especially going to Hampden, I am sure Aberdeen will be up for it.
“But for now I think we just need to park the Scottish Cup.
“We have a big league game at Livingston in midweek and we need to focus on that and keep the domestic run going.
“When the semi-final does come round we will be buzzing for it.
“Will Aberdeen be sick of us? I don’t know. When I was there I didn’t get the chance to play against Celtic for them. We know how good a team Aberdeen are. Up to this point we have had success against them in the Cup, but that is nothing you can rely on.
“You go into every game and forget about what has happened in the past and we know we need to be spot on when that game comes around if we want to make the final.”
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Christie missed out with suspension as the Hoops crashed out of the Europa League and admits he felt like he was punished twice by being booked for giving away a penalty in the first leg. He added: “It was frustrating for me watching from the sidelines last Thursday.
“I felt the disappointment and I was gutted for the boys because I know how big our aspirations were to go far in Europe this season.
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“We are still happy with the run we had with an amazing group stage.
“It was frustrating to go out, but we knew the perfect response was to get a win and book ourselves into a semi-final and we’re glad to do that.”
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