SCOTT BROWN says that Celtic’s first-half masterclass against Aberdeen was their best performance in the last 18 months as they stormed into the Scottish Cup final at a sodden Hampden Park.

The Celtic captain was delighted to see his teammates answer their critics in fine style after four matches without a win, saying they showed their mental resilience to keep their dreams of a fourth successive Treble alive.

And with more and more of their players now coming back to fitness, Brown believes the best is yet to come from the champions.

“I think the first half today’s probably the best performance we’ve had in about a year and a half, being perfectly honest,” Brown said.

“We controlled the game, we dictated the play for 45 minutes and created some great chances as well as scoring two goals.

“Our football was great, one touch-two touch stuff and we opened up a very strong Aberdeen team.

“It shows too the quality of players we’ve got throughout the squad – we had Griff (Leigh Griffiths) and Albian (Ajeti) coming on.

“It’s about getting all of our quality players back. Nir (Bitton)’s not long back which is fantastic for us. Hatem (Elhamed)’s just returned too, so it’s great for us. They are all coming back at the right time for us.

“It shows the lads’ fighting spirit. There’s been a lot of criticism for us. But we don’t really pay attention to it, to be honest. We’re big enough and strong enough to know when we’re playing well or not.

“But today’s performance was excellent. First half was probably the best we’ve played all season. Second half the pitch got soft and Aberdeen pressed forward.

“They didn’t create that much, though, and that’s down to our defence.

“Our forwards also worked extremely hard.”

Of all of the Celtic players who are big enough and ugly enough to take their recent criticism on the chin, Brown says that Shane Duffy is more equipped to deal with the slings and arrows that have been aimed in his direction than most.

And Brown was fulsome in his praise of the on-loan Brighton defender after he more than played his part in his side’s first clean sheet in five matches.

“He was brilliant today, just exceptional, with the ball, with his defending and keeping a good line for us,” he said. “He talked throughout the game.

“We all know he can do it. He keeps doing it week in week out for us.

“Listen, there’s always going to be criticism, people always want to have a go at us.

“It doesn’t matter who it comes from – we’re strong enough and ugly enough to deal with that criticism and we just batter away.

“We just worry about ourselves and everyone in that dressing room. That’s why we’re strong, that’s why we keep doing this. That’s what our long cup successes have been all about and we want more.

“For us, in that dressing room it’s about working hard for each other and we believe in each other. “That’s why we stay so strong.”

There is no doubting now what Brown wants for Christmas after setting up a final showdown with Hearts on December 20th, and he was delighted to give under-fire boss Neil Lennon an early present by relieving the pressure on him with the win.

“We look forward to that when it comes,” he said. “There are a lot of games in-between which we need to take care of.

“It’s fantastic we’re in another Cup final and it’s against Hearts also. They were our last Cup final opponents. That was an extremely hard game for us and we know once more they’re going to be well organised with Robbie Neilson.

“We’re looking forward to it.

“Yet again we’ve come to Hampden and put in another big performance and we need to make sure we produce another one in the final.

“I’m delighted for the manager,” he continued. “We’re all together in there. He’s got our back, no matter what, and we’ve got his back.

“That performance was for him today as well and hopefully that’s a little bit of pressure off his back too.”