LIKE good comedy, the art of winning a championship is perfect timing.

Little wonder, therefore, there has been no shortage of smiles around Lennoxtown this week.

The success in the Co-operative Insurance League Cup Final not only proved Celtic are good enough to defeat Rangers when the prizes are up for grabs, it also underlined how the hand manager Gordon Strachan has to play in the title run-in is strengthening.

Fringe players are now stepping forward as serious contenders for starting positions, cranking up the competition within the squad to a level which leaves Strachan purring.

Darren O'Dea confirmed with his goal-scoring performance at the weekend he is now a major rival to Lee Naylor and Mark Wilson for the problematic left-back slot, while Aiden McGeady's pace and link-up play with Scott McDonald has promoted him ahead of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras as a viable option up front.

However, while Vennegoor's star continues to wane, country-man Glenn Loovens is heading in the opposite direction.

His assured 120 minutes alongside Stephen McManus convinced many doubters he was indeed worth the £2.5million Celtic paid to Cardiff in an 11th-hour move to head off interest from Rangers.

The 25-year-old is now very much in Strachan's mind for a sustained run in the side, and the manager joined in the chorus of praise which has filtered the defender's way since he picked up his first-ever winner's medal.

"I thought Loovens was fantastic in the final," said Strachan. "He could have been Man of the Match.

"I'd say that's the best I've seen him play. But then, I haven't seen him play a bad game any time we've put him in.

"He was great in the semi-final against Dundee United as well. That's two big games at Hampden he has been involved in, and we haven't lost a goal in either.

"He can be proud of that, and his overall contribution."

Laid-back Loovens is not the most demonstrative of characters, on or off the park. That can make it easy to overlook him.

But his qualities have been appreciated within the Celtic camp since they came up against him in a pre-season tournament in Portugal last summer when, ironically, one of the men he brushed aside was Gary Caldwell.

It would be foolish to suggest Loovens has done enough to now usurp Caldwell from the manager's first-choice line-up.

But after such an assured performance in such a big game, the gap left when Caldwell is asked to move forward to add some height and steel to midfield is no longer the cause for concern it once was.

As ever, Strachan will operate on the premise it is horses for courses, and deploy his resources accordingly.

That will mean disappointment for some who are cast as outsiders during the crucial run-in. But Strachan has shown he is strong enough to handle dropping even the biggest names and expects them to be equally big enough to deal with it.

He said: "There is not a problem doing that. With some players, who have been playing regularly, you have to make sure you speak to them at the right time.

"I don't think the right time is when you announce the team and they are not in it.

"Take the cup final as an example. The guys deserved to be prepared, and I did my best to do that so it did not come as a shock. Some players want you to explain to them why you are leaving them out, and some don't.

"I was more in the second category. And remember, you're talking to a guy who went to Hampden as part of Aberdeen's 14-man squad for the Scottish Cup final in the days when only 13 got stripped.

"Try that for feeling bad as you are sitting in the stand yourself looking down on everyone else being involved in such a big occasion."

Strachan's response to that body blow was to become even more determined to show he was too valuable to the team to be left out.

He believes he has given the players in danger of feeling sorry for themselves the tools to get on with the job thanks to a fitness regime which can pay big dividends at the end of such a tough season.

But this is only half the story, and Strachan explained there must be fire in the belly as well as energy in the legs.

"If you get two people of equal speed, the guy with the most determination will win the race," he said.

"Knowing you have the fitness gives you the mental reassurance that, if you want to win the race, you can."

Shunsuke Nakamura is the inscrutable exception that proves the rule. The Japanese star is blessed with many things, but blinding pace is not among them.

However, no-one covered more ground on the strength-sapping Hampden surface than the midfielder, and he still had enough energy to deliver a precision injury-time free-kick for O'Dea to head Celtic into the lead.

"Naka's fitness is pheno-menal," beamed Strachan. "And he has with it that desire, which is so important.

"He knows he is not the strongest player, but he's determined no-one is going to take the ball off him.

"If that means he has to take a kick, then he is brave enough to do that.

"But I also thought Aiden's fitness was good, and Scott McDonald and Scott Brown also showed how fit they are, which is testament to how well they have prepared."

Strachan was delighted they all got their just desserts, and was happy to leave the stage to his players when the cele- brations kicked off.

He explained: "As a manager, you're only pleased for the players. That's the one thing you become a coach for, to be happy for the players when they achieve something.

"I know they've had that special feeling which comes with picking up a trophy, and that's what, in turn, makes me pleased."