Lennon urges Bhoys to remain focused

Joe McHugh

Neil Lennon has warned his Old Firm heroes not to get complacent after beating Rangers.

After months of criticism, Celtic have been soaking up the praise after their 2-0 win at Ibrox as attention has turned to Rangers' problems.

Celtic travel to Berwick on Scottish Cup duty before further away matches at Hamilton and Hibs in the SPL as they attempt to build on the advantage that they established after the clash with their fiercest rivals.

"We're not getting carried away with things and can't be complacent," Lennon stressed. "What we have done is give ourselves a real good foothold in the title race.

"That's four points and a decent lead at the minute. I know Rangers have two games in hand and they are both away, so they have some tough games coming, but we can only concentrate on what we are doing.

"Even if we had lost on Sunday I wouldn't have said the league is over, but the fact that we have won it now gives us a real chance.

"To play so well against the champions and win convincingly, which we haven't done for a while, is fantastic but I'm not getting carried away."

The win at Ibrox has eased a lot of the pressure on Celtic as Lennon is able to take a more relaxed view during this month's transfer window.

Before the win at Ibrox, wholesale changes were being predicted but the result and performance of the side suggests that the squad is ready for the battle ahead for the SPL title.

Brann Bergen's Norwegian striker Erik Huseklepp is reportedly a £1m transfer target, while Nottingham Forest defender Kelvin Wilson is expected to complete a pre-contract agreement to join Celtic at the end of the season.

Challenge

The Ibrox win was achieved without half a dozen first picks and Lennon was thrilled by the way his untried side rose to the challenge.

"Considering I had six players out who you would probably have as potential starters, it's a magnificent performance," he said. "It just shows that you can find that bit extra when you need to.

"Every time the ball came into our box it was a Celtic head on it. I thought that we were more resolute in our defending, Thomas Rogne and Daniel Majstorovic were superb at the back.

"Mark Wilson was also solid and back to his best.

"Biram Kayal hasn't played for me for three months but he did exactly what we brought him for. He's tigerish, broke the play up and got us playing.

"Charlie Mulgrew came in and did a great job, there were no failures in a great team performance."

Meanwhile, Freddie Ljungberg is expected to make his debut in Sunday's Scottish Cup tie at Berwick.