CELTIC left back Greg Taylor has dismissed fears about the cinch Premiership leaders’ physical condition ahead of their first post-split fixture against Ross County in Dingwall tomorrow.

Taylor and his team mates failed to perform at their best in the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers at Hampden last Sunday and were beaten 2-1 after extra-time.

And Parkhead midfielder Reo Hatate admitted that he was feeling “physically and emotionally fatigued” in an interview with a newspaper in his native Japan this week.

Ange Postecoglou’s side are six points ahead of their city rivals in Premiership table with five games remaining and in a strong position to reclaim the Scottish title.

Taylor, who is available for selection after being forced to leave the field in the final minute of regulation time at Hampden by cramp, has no concerns about Celtic’s fitness entering the run-in.  

“We are fine,” he said. “We are fit and ready. It was a high intensity game last weekend, 120 minutes for some of the boys. We needed to rest and recover, but we are ready to go. Everyone feels good.”

Asked if the return of players like James Forrest, Kyogo Furuhashi, Anthony Ralson and David Turnbull would help Celtic in their remaining fixtures, Taylor said: “I think so.

“You’ve got the boys setting examples every day and the experienced lads in the spine of the team drive the rest of us. If we can follow suit then it’ll stand us in good stead.”

Celtic went on a 33 game unbeaten run domestically after suffering defeat to Livingston at the Tony Macaroni Stadium back in September and Taylor is confident they can react to the Rangers loss in a similar manner.

“We have had setbacks along the way but we have responded pretty well,” he said. “We had a tough start to the season and have got ourselves in a strong position now.

“That’s all we’ll aim to keep doing. We have got a strong mentality in the group. It helps when you have leaders who set the standards every day. They don’t let us slip away from that.”