HOURS of hard graft at Celtic’s training complex on the outskirts of Lennoxtown has helped Scott Sinclair and Kieran Tierney to strike up a devastating partnership on the left side of Brendan Rodgers’s team this season.

But time spent together at the oche in recent months has also been instrumental in the unlikeliest of darts enthusiasts developing the near telepathic understanding which they have on the park.

“I think KT is a great young player and I’m so happy that he’s back,” said Sinclair. “We both know each other’s games inside out so it’s great for the both of us and for the team that he’s back in.

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“We’ve got a good relationship off the pitch as well. We get on so well. I think you can see that on the pitch. We play darts now and then.

“It started as a bit of banter in training and when we finished one morning, we ended up playing darts after lunch. At the moment, he’s a couple of games up. His arm is better now, so he’s improving.”

Tierney underwent ankle and shoulder operations last year after injuring himself during a training session. But the fact he had been sidelined for nearly three months was far from apparent when he made his competitive comeback in the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round match against Albion Rovers at the Excelsior Stadium on Sunday.

The 19-year-old performed, albeit against part-time opposition, with all of his usual athleticism and technical excellence in a game which Celtic won 3-0 and set up Sinclair for the all-important opening goal in the 30th minute with a cute lay-off.

The left back’s typically assured display came as no surprise to his team mate. Sinclair has played in the Premier League down in England with Chelsea, Swansea City, Manchester City and Aston Villa in the past and believes Tierney is capable of going to the very top.

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“He can be as good as he wants to be,” he said. “He’s playing at such a young age and for any young player, when you are playing week in, week out, you can show your attributes and your quality. He’s been doing that and he can only get better. He is definitely a very grounded kid and I’m sure he’s going to keep improving and keep enjoying his football.”

Sinclair is certainly savouring every minute that he spends on the field at the moment. The winger's spectacular strike at the weekend was his 13th of the 2016/17 campaign. The £3.5 million signing admitted that his impressive goals per game ratio has pleased him greatly.

The 27-year-old has, like every member of the Celtic squad, been revitalised by the three week winter break and warm-weather training stint in Dubai and stressed he would be looking to score more in the second half of the season.

“For me, it’s just about being consistent,” he said. “When I first came here, I wasn’t just going to score one week and then not score for another four games. The most important thing for me is to be consistent throughout the whole season.

“I feel much sharper now. I’ve had a nice break, as everyone else has had, and I’m going into the second half of the season feeling much better and ready to go again and try to score more goals than I did in the first part of the league.”

Sinclair and his team mates can extend their unbeaten run domestically to 26 games – and equal the record set by the Lisbon Lions in the 1966/67 season - if they can draw with or defeat St. Johnstone in a Ladbrokes Premiership match at Parkhead this evening.

The Englishman has been instrumental in the success which Celtic have enjoyed this season, but he believes that Rodgers deserves much of the credit for creating a close team spirit in a short space of time. “We are so together in the dressing room and it’s a great environment to be in,” he said. “The manager has installed that as well.”

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The game against Tommy Wright’s team will also be the 400th competitive outing that Scott Brown will, if he is fit and selected, make for Celtic. Sinclair was also unstinting in his praise of the midfielder. “He’s a great captain and a great person as well,” he said. “To have someone like that in the team keeps everyone together and he’s a great man.”

Celtic have been drawn to face Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the only team in Scotland to draw with them this season, in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup next month and Sinclair, who missed the Betfred Cup final against Aberdeen through injury in November, is keen to win it and do well in the competition.

“I’m here and I want to win as much as I can,” he said. “The way Rovers got men behind the ball and kept their structure meant it was difficult for us to break them down. But it’s great for us that we did that and we got the win to take us into the next round. It’s great that we can keep continuing to win our games.”