Scott McDonald increased his personal scoring account to 31 yesterday, as he kept up Celtic’s title momentum but the striker admitted that the goals will mean nothing unless they deliver a championship.

The Australia player, who was acquired for just £750,000 last summer from Motherwell, headed in the second goal that ended Hibernian’s resistance and sealed a sixth successive win in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League that puts pressure back on Rangers.

“It is tremendous to get 31 goals in my first season at Celtic,” McDonald said. “However it is a team game and it will mean nothing unless we win the title. Only becoming champions again will cap off a wonderful season.

“I don’t think I could have wished for a better first season at Celtic. I have enjoyed every single minute of it. We knew that this game was never over at 1-0. We could feel the tension in the crowd and it was great to score my header. It was a great performance by the team but results are more important. That’s another game down in our target, and one more to go. We will see what happens.”

Celtic must now wait until May 22 before the face Dundee United at Tannadice in their last league fixture, while Rangers will have to play twice before that once they return from the Uefa Cup final. McDonald is hoping that his former club, Motherwell, can also inflict damage upon Rangers when they go to Fir Park next Saturday.

“It is strange to have to wait 11 days for a game but we will be up for it and well prepared,” he said. “What more motivation do you need than going for the title. We will hope that Rangers slip up before then. I don’t know if they will. It is in their hands now. It depends on how they react after the Uefa Cup final. I wish Rangers the best in that one, but not in the league.

“We have gone on a good run since we lost here to Motherwell last month. We are in front of Rangers just now but they have games in hand and if they win them, they will win the title.

“I had a few texts from my old mates at Motherwell before the game asking me to do them a favour and beat Hibernian so they could qualify for the Uefa Cup. They are home and dry now and I just hope they can do us a favour now when they meet Rangers.

“We’ve won six games in a row now and we have been under real pressure in every one. The two against Rangers were the toughest because we had to take those six points to make this fight possible. The job is not done but now we know that, at the very least, the title is going down to the last day.”

McDonald also praised another new recruit, Barry Robson, for offering a fresh injection of belief to Celtic’s makeup just at the right time in the campaign. “I came here believing that I could do a job for Celtic and Barry has come in and done the same,” McDonald said.

“He is aggressive and his energy is fantastic and we now have another threat at set-pieces along with Shunsuke Nakamura. Barry is keeping a player of the quality of Scott Brown out of the side.”