Lennon wants his team to keep building on the positive start to year

● Manager of the Month believes title challengers can maintain momentum

of those Lennon had been hoping to enlist before the window closed. But, having missed out, he said he could not blame anyone in the Hibs hierarchy.

“I was here and to be fair to the club they did everything they could,” he added. “But we have brought in Chris Humphrey and Scott Gallagher. No-one has gone out. The only blow is losing Paul Hanlon due to the pelvic problem he has.”

The defender saw a specialist yesterday and Lennon is hopeful that he will only sit out two or three weeks.

That leaves him with a group of players he believes are capable of a successful run-in.

“We did have that period where we lost John [Mcginn], Dylan [Mcgeouch] and Fraser [Fyvie] at the same time. They are three excellent players in our midfield and any club in the country would miss them. But having them back now has just strengthened us. Defensively we have been very good and we are not just nicking

0 Hibs boss Neil Lennon with his Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Month award for January.

Cup holders told to put ‘terrific’ rivals out of mind

games. I felt last week we had real good control of the game, it was a real polished performance from us. I am very pleased with the overall level of performance we have shown. It is important we maintain that.

“I do think we can score more goals. I think that we should score more goals for the chances we create and the amount of possession that we have. That would be my only criticism of what we have been doing this season. Defensively we have been excellent and you would like it, as a manager, to be sitting in the dugout feeling a lot more comfortable if we could convert more of those chances. Hopefully that will come.

“Ihaveagoodsquadhereand they have taken us to an eightpoint lead. You always look to strengthen if you can and we tried to do that but it’s not always possible so we go with what we’ve got.” players have been warned against allowing their minds to drift towards the upcoming derby clash with Hearts, with their manager stating that any distracted performances against Ayr United tomorrow could cost them a starting place in the high-octane Scottish Cup tie.

“Absolutely. If they don’t perform on Saturday they will not play next week. It’s simple,” said Neil Lennon, well aware of how much his players want to be involved in the capital clash.

Lennon did take the opportunity to cast his eye over their Gorgie rivals ahead of the head to head, taking in Hearts’ Premiership match against Rangers on Wednesday and he admitted he was impressed by what he saw as Ian Cathro’s men overwhelmed the opposition, with several of the club’s new signings showing an early aptitude for the Scottish game.

“They’re a good team,” he said. “They were terrific, absolutely terrific. It’s not an easy thing to score four past Rangers and they thoroughly deserved it and played some good football as well. But that was then, we will see what happens next week and, like us, they also have a game this weekend and it could all change again very quickly but they were very impressive, I have to say.”