Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LENNON HAILS PERFECT CELTS
Hamilton Academicals 0 Celtic 1
NEIL LENNON hailed Celtic’s best start to a season in nine years – and Boli Bolingoli reckons European sides should be running scared as well.
The Hoops saw off Hamilton to win their first five league games for the first time since 2010/11.
That form had Lenny purring and Bolingoli believes it could propel them far in the Europa League.
Lennon, who saw James Forrest’s fourth minute strike seal the victory at Accies, said: “It’s three points, a very good performance in difficult conditions and five out of five, which we haven’t done in a long time at the start of a campaign.
“It’s very difficult to win five out of five because we haven’t done it for a decade. That’s a brilliant start to the season and we’re putting pressure on everyone else already.
“It’s also our third clean sheet in five as well. We’re playing very well. The only regret today is that we didn’t score more.” Forrest converted a cross from new boy Mo Elyounoussi (inset) and Lennon said: “James was our biggest threat all day.
“His pace, his effort that hit the bar, his running power, everything. Mo had a very good debut for an hour. He looked fit, fresh and the good player we thought he’d be.”
Left-back Bolingoli, meanwhile, is confident Celtic can help him go one better in the Europa League than he did with previous clubs Rapid Vienna and Club Brugge.
He has already been in the last 32 and quarter-finals of the tournament and said: “I believe, with Celtic, we can do something in the Europa League. We can go very far.
“When I look back at my experiences of the competition already, with Rapid and Brugge, Celtic can do better than that.
“It can be a great season for us because we have so much quality. Celtic isn’t a club that goes into the Europa League just to be there, to do nothing.
“We are a big club and we want to represent the name of Celtic in
Europe.
“We want to go far and try to win something.”