CELTIC did not pick up any prizes at the weekend when the PFA awards were dispensed.

But they will get their hands on the big one on Saturday – and that's all that really matters to Neil Lennon and his players.

Adam Matthews did find himself in the Team of the Year, despite having missed almost a third of the campaign with injury.

To the young Welshman, that just about sums up the way opinion-based awards are distributed.

The SPL trophy – which will be presented after the game against St Johnstone on Saturday – is won, not awarded.

And Matthews believes everyone at Celtic Park will be content to reflect on a season in which they have retained the major prize, while also making a hugely positive impression in Europe and, they hope, added the Scottish Cup.

Asked if he was surprised the PFA shortlist for Player of the Year did not contain any of his team-mates, or that Victor Wanyama missed out on Young Player and Neil Lennon on Manager of the Year, he said: "Not really. It's out of our hands who gets voted for.

"We know ourselves we have had a great season. Now we need to top it off with a win in the cup final.

"We are not too worried about awards because we know, as a team, we've done brilliantly."

Matthews did have some sympathy for his boss, however, after Lennon lost out to Queen of the South's Allan Johnston.

"I think the manager deserved the award," he said. "We've had a great run in the Champions League, won the league, reached the semi-final of one cup and we are in the final of the other.

"He has done great this season, although all the other managers have done well, so we can't complain about the vote."

Matthews is too modest to blow his own trumpet after another year in which the 21-year-old has continued to develop into one of the best players in the Hoops squad.

He prefers to focus instead on regaining full fitness and fighting for a place in the side for the run-in.

Even when he is fully recovered from the hamstring injury sustained playing against Juventus in Turin on March 6 – as revealed by Johan Mjallby in SportTimes yesterday, he is in line to return this weekend – Matthews knows the consistent Mikael Lustig will be there to present a barrier to a first-team recall.

"I've trained hard in the last couple of days and there's been no recurrence of the injury, so I'm hoping to be fit for the weekend," he said.

"It was my first hamstring injury, but I've done my rehab properly so it shouldn't return.

"I've worked hard in the gym with the physios and the fitness guys.

"I enjoyed that, and I've also done a bit of weight-lifting – for my holidays.

"The cup final's my aim. I'm not going to rush back because the league has already been won, so I'll try to ease my way in and be ready for the final."

Big games on the big stage are what attracted Matthews north.

And, even though his former side, Cardiff, have just booked their place in the English top flight, he has no regrets about leaving the club he joined as a schoolboy.

He said: "I've enjoyed every minute I've spent here, so I'm not looking to go any time soon.

"I am happy for Cardiff and what they've achieved, but my focus is on Celtic.

"Playing in the Champions League is what I came up here for, and I have no regrets about leaving Cardiff."