Scott Sinclair admits that playing with renewed confidence has been the key to his incredible start to life at Celtic.

The former Swansea and Aston Villa winger scored in the Hoops’ 2-2 draw with Inverness on Sunday, ensuring he became the first Celtic player in 80 years to score in his first five league appearances for the club.

Sinclair endured a torrid time as Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League last season but the 27-year-old has revelled since linking up with his former manager Brendan Rodgers in Glasgow.

He netted on his debut against Hearts at Tynecastle last month and has been on the crest of a wave ever since. Playing with confidence is something Sinclair is clearly enjoying.

“It’s amazing what consistency and confidence does for a player like myself and when you have both you feel like you are going to score,” he told Celtic TV.

The draw at Inverness was the first time Celtic had failed to win a domestic game since Rodgers took over.

Despite that, defeat for second-place Hearts at St Johnstone on Saturday meant the champions extended their Scottish Premiership lead to three points with a game in hand.

Sinclair would have preferred three points in the Highlands over his own scoring contribution.

“I go into every game looking to create and score goals and it’s a great achievement but at the same time it would have been better to have won the game,” he said.

“Every game is difficult to score goals and the players in front of you want to stop you doing that and park the bus sometimes we have to break them down.”

Sinclair has three games to go to match Jimmy McGrory’s record of scoring in his first eight league appearances as a Celtic player.

Celtic are 1.08 to win their sixth straight Scottish title this season, with second-placed Hearts at 41.00.