LENNON’S REACTION HEROES

Celtic manager feels harsh words have been vindicated

NEIL LENNON says that he got the reaction he was looking for from his underperforming players in the win at Kilmarnock after heavily criticising them in the aftermath of the weekend defeat to St Mirren.

The Celtic manager gave his men both barrels after the dismal 2-1 defeat on Saturday, and told them that they had been letting him down with their performances so far this season.

Lennon subsequently made five changes to his starting lineup for last night’s game at Rugby Park, and the champions produced their best performance in some time to come away with an emphatic 4-0 victory. “I got the reaction I wanted,” Lennon said. “It was the polar opposite of what we produced on Saturday. “People were criticising me for jagging the team but they needed the jag to be honest and we got a great performance and a great result. The body language, their attacking play, the concentration was so much better. That is more like us so we have to build on that from here on in.”

Lennon was pleased with the contribution from the five men he brought into the team, not least of all debutant Jonjoe

Kenny, who got his first start at right-back after his deadline day arrival.

“He knows the position, he’s a good defender, I thought he was very good going forward,” he said.

“He was very calm and looked like he’d been playing with us all season, even though he’d only trained with us for a day.

“I was delighted with his performance. I quite like his attitude and his enthusiasm for the game. He’s a gritty little hardy man and I thought he defended his position very well tonight.”