The road to the top has been long and rocky for Barry Robson. He has not yet found time to enjoy the view.

The road to the top has been long and rocky for Barry Robson. He has not yet found time to enjoy the view. The Celtic midfielder, who was yesterday named the Clydesdale Bank Premier League player of the month for April, still has not reached the summit of his ambitions after a career detour that once saw him on loan to Forfar.

"I stay back and do extra every day. I've done that for the last God knows how many years," said the 29-year-old. Derek McInnes, the manager of St Johnstone, recently described Robson as the "hungriest player" in the league.

Robson, signed from Dundee United for £1.2m in the January transfer window, worked with McInnes at Tannadice and said: "He was a good role model to watch in training, to see how hard he worked every day and how much extra he did in sessions. You get players here who are just the same.

"You think that the higher you go players would take their foot off the gas. That isn't true. The higher you go you see how much the good players work even harder. It's good to be here with guys like that."

Robson shrugged off his award, saying: " It means I must be doing something right. The most important thing is the results we have had recently and that is where the main concern is. The most important things are the big prizes. I feel settled, I feel good, but I feel I can get better."

Robson has allied his hard work to a toughness of character. Asked if he had any concerns about his chances of making an impact at Celtic Park, Robson said: "You have got to have a confidence. I knew it was going to be hard to play. It still is hard to play.

It is hard to get into the team and even harder to stay there.

I know that I have to be at my best every week just to stay in the team."

He has not been unnerved by the size of the challenge. "There is a lot of pressure on you at a club like Dundee United," he said. "When you live in a city like Dundee, it is all football, football, football, especially as captain. So there was big pressure playing there and you could not get away from it. I know Celtic is a much bigger football club but there is pressure wherever you go. You have try to deal with that."

Robson has risen to that challenge, emphasising his appetite for stress by stepping up and blasting home the winner from the penalty spot in the last Old Firm match. He has also learned the art of diplomacy as an Old Firm player, declining to comment over the controversy over his departure from the last Scotland squad.

He has enjoyed the days between the Motherwell game and tomorrow's fixture with Hibernian. "This week the manager has been able to do a lot more coaching, a lot more work on things, a lot more drills," he said.

And still Robson would have stayed behind for more.