The prospect does not worry Scott McDonald unduly. The man who famously snatched a title away from Celtic and handed it to Rangers in the dying seconds of the 2004/05 season while still a Motherwell player, knows things in football can turn around quite quickly.

Events throughout a topsy-turvy year bear that out. Celtic began 2009 with a seven-point advantage after winning the Old Firm match at the end of December but frittered away that lead to allow Rangers to take the title on the final day of the campaign.

That, while a painful memory for McDonald, at least reassures him with the knowledge that even if Rangers extend their impressive recent run by beating Dundee United at Ibrox this evening and then winning at Celtic Park on Sunday, there will be no medals handed out just yet.

As the Australian knows all too well, it ain’t ever over ’til it’s over.

“I have always said that and believed that,” he said. “Nothing has changed. If the worst came to the worst, then I would definitely still believe we were in it.

“It wouldn’t be too dissimilar to last season when we were looking very comfortable and a few people maybe thought the title was over. But that turned itself around.

“No matter what happens this midweek, they will still be on top so it is important we keep in touch.

“But in order for it not to be over we need to find a bit more consistency. It’s an obvious thing to say but whoever wins the most games will win the league.

“We need to continue to try and improve. I think we have done that, as have Rangers, over the past four or five weeks. We need to turn it into maximum points in every game we play.”

The recent form of both Rangers and Celtic, the occasional blip aside, has shown marked improvement on earlier in the season when any anxious gambler would have thought twice about sticking either of the Glasgow pair on as a “sure thing” on the weekend coupon.

McDonald conceded that it was unusual for the pair to be struggling simultaneously over a long stretch of matches but pointed to recent seasons to show that slip-ups are not uncommon.

“Both teams had it within them to pick up,” he said. “I think both would agree that it couldn’t really have got any worse.

“Perhaps it could have, but the way we were feeling the only way was up. Sometimes one team has been poor and the other has capitalised and gone away with it.

“But if you look at history, when one team slips up the other often does the same. Even in my two and a half years here, dropping points on the same weekend has happened quite a lot. That’s incredibly frustrating when you are either trying to build a lead or catch up. But it’s not for the want of trying.

“We need to continue working hard and try to press forward, winning as many games as we can.”

The Celtic defence has come under fire for a series of costly errors this season but McDonald insists the whole team must take collective responsibility at both ends of the pitch.

“We are all in it together. Everyone has their job to do. We defend from the front and the attacks begin at the back.

“If we concede goals then the defenders are going to get criticism. If we don’t score, then the forwards get it.

“But as long as we stick together and keep working hard, that is the main thing. Hopefully we can keep doing that and pick up positive results.”

McDonald has never been one to hide his disappointment and frustration whenever he has missed a chance or is substituted midway through the second half.

That is in stark contrast to his amiable personality off the pitch but the Australian is not going to start apologising now for his on-field crabbiness.

“I’m not going to be happy playing 60 minutes when there is another 30 minutes in which to get goals,” he reasoned.

“If that’s a bad thing, then someone better come and tell me because I don’t believe it is. I will continue to be that way, simple as that.

“I am a winner and a goalscorer and that’s what I want to do. If I am not playing well then that’s fine, I understand.

“There are times when you feel you are playing well and get taken off. I’m always going to question it, I think.

“When I am having a bad game, I know it’s time to come off. You know there is other quality there to come on and do a job.

“It’s time for the other guy to come and prove he is worth a place in the team. If he does well, scores goals and takes your place then you just have to take your hat off to him and work harder to try and get back in.”