Lennon calls on Hoops to end on high

Joe McHugh

Neil Lennon wants his players to finish their season in style by taking the honours in the final Old Firm clash tomorrow.

Despite winning the SPL title comfortably Celtic have had to take a back seat in terms of publicity to the crisis going on at Rangers.

Last month, the Hoops had the chance to clinch the title with a win at Ibrox but crashed to a controversial 3-2 defeat with two players sent off and Lennon watching the second half from the media room.

That defeat and two Hampden losses in the cups have led to questions being asked about the bottle and ability of Lennon's side.

Tomorrow's visit from Rangers is largely academic in terms of the championship but there will be no lack of motivation in the home dressing room, even though their manager will be forced to watch the match from the directors' box.

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Looking back at that defeat at Ibrox, Lennon said: "We had two very good chances after (Sone) Aluko scored, people forget the chances we created. If you lose that fixture it's as if you played rubbish the whole game, which wasn't the case.

"Losing our discipline the way that we did was disappointing. I felt that the first sending off was harsh.

"Even at 1-0 down we were creating chances and were well in the game.

"At half-time, I felt that we'd been there before, playing well, and I had no fear for the players going out in the second half but losing Victor (Wanyama) was a huge blow.

"They showed character to keep going and scored two good goals. They know themselves that they can do better and they'll be very motivated to do that tomorrow."

Celtic will be without James Forrest and Ki Sung Yeung for the rest of the season, which could give Paddy McCourt and Tony Watt a chance to impress after appearing as substitutes in last week's win over Motherwell.

CELTIC v RANGERS, LIVE TOMORROW,

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