THE FINAL SAY
Lennon facing selection dilemma after win
NEIL LENNON admits yesterday’s morale-boosting victory against Kilmarnock has given him a Hampden selection headache ahead of next weekend’s Scottish Cup final.
Celtic shrugged off pre-match protests from angry fans to secure their first back-to-back wins since October with a 2-0 victory over the Ayrshire side.
Mohamed Elyounoussi broke the deadlock with a deflected strike in 57 minutes before David Turnbull’s inch-perfect corner teed up a headed goal for Shane Duffy.
Stand-outs in Thursday’s Europa League win over Lille, Turnbull and Ismaila Soro impressed once again as they consigned Kilmarnock to their third straight away loss in the league. Young goalkeeper Conor Hazard kept a clean sheet in his second appearance of the season to stake his own claim for a cup final place.
Reluctant to cast aside benched regulars Scott Brown, Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic, however, Lennon admits the new additions have given him some hard thinking to do ahead of the tilt at a quadruple Treble.
‘They have given me options,’ said the Celtic boss (right, with Turnbull). ‘But I’d like to think about the boys
who got us there as well. We can’t just write them off — but the lads who have come in have done a terrific job. ‘I haven’t got a lot in mind as yet. We will do a lot of work on Hearts, who are really a Premiership team with the quality that they’ve got. ‘I will not take it for granted, but we want to win it and finish off last season this season.’ Turnbull took his contribution to two assists and a goal in two starts, teeing up Duffy’s third Celtic goal. ‘He’s played brilliantly for us those last three games. He’s had Covid and a tough start, but we’ve got him up to full speed now and he lasted longer today than I thought he would,’ added Lennon. ‘We knew he was a good player, but he is actually proving to be better than we originally thought.’ Celtic’s last back-to-back wins came against Sarajevo in the Europa League and St Johnstone in the Premiership. And Lennon also singled out Duffy for praise after a torrid start to his Celtic career, saying: ‘I’m delighted for him. He’s had a lot of criticism since he came here and it’s probably something that he is not used to. So we gave him a little bit of time out to try to adapt to things, and he has come back in and done really well.’ Entering yesterday’s game with just six points from their last 15, the only disappointment for the Parkhead boss was the failure to add more goals. ‘I thought we deserved to win the game by a lot more,’ added Lennon. ‘But it was a very, very good all-round performance. ‘We were thoroughly dominant against a very good side, so it’s a step in the right direction. ‘I’m just pleased that we won and played well. They are capable of that. ‘We have a week now to prepare for a cup final which we are all looking forward to. ‘But it was important we won and it’s important we put a consistent run together now for a concerted period of time.’ Rangers remain 13 points ahead at the Premiership summit, with Celtic having two games in hand. Insisting the title race isn’t dead yet, Lennon added: ‘You can’t dwell on the past or what has gone on before. ‘They have the bit between the teeth finally and there is a good unity about them that has been apparent the last week or so. ‘We just need to keep that going.’