CELTIC WIN TREBLE TO EASE PRESSURE ON LENNON

NEIL LENNoN expressed his joy after he made Scottish footballing history by becoming the first man to win a domestic treble as both a player and manager. The midfield anchor in Martin o’Neill’s all-conquering side of 2000-01, Lennon survived a dramatic penalty shootout to claim a quadruple treble after Robbie Neilson’s battling Hearts repeatedly pegged back the champions in a stunning 3-3 draw. The final of the 2019-20 season — originally scheduled for May — saw Celtic complete the Treble after winning the Premiership and League Cup. They led 2-0 at half-time after a strike from Ryan Christie and an odsonne Edouard penalty, but they were rocked by second-half efforts from Liam Boyce and Stephen Kingsley. Sub Leigh Griffiths looked to have won it in extra-time before rookie keeper Conor Hazard went from villain to hero by gifting giftin

Josh Ginnelly an extra-time leveller — then saving two spot-kicks in the shootout. The subject of angry protests from fans after crashing out of the Betfred Cup, Lennon struggled to contain his emotions after extending his run of consecutive trophies to five. ‘It means everything. To be the first person to achieve this? I don’t talk much about myself but it feels so special. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes — a lot of thinking, a lot of heartbreak at times. I’ve had some great moments, but this is the best. I’m so glad to be sitting here as a treble-winning manager.’ Failure to defend set-pieces has been a feature of Celtic’s season and Lennon admitted it almost cost his side when Hearts stormed back into the game. ‘At half-time I told the team that the next goal would be important. I thought the reaction to us losing that goal was good. We had a couple of chances to score a third and then our bugbear this year has been set-plays and we’ve conceded a poor one. ‘Griffiths is a footballing genius when it comes to goalscoring and I thought, “Surely this is it now”, but we conceded again from a

SNS GROUP Trophy time: Celtic’s Neil Lennon set-play. Hopefully this will ease the pressure on them a little bit and they can get back to playing the sort of football they are capable of. To score three goals and not win the game is something we have to address but that’s not for now. That’s for another day.’