Lennon praises Celtic´s ´never say die´ approach

Neil Lennon praised his Celtic’s side never say die attitude as they scored two goals in the last ten minutes to come from behind to beat Hibernian 3-2 at Parkhead on Saturday.

The interim manager’s 100 per cent record in the league since he took over from the sacked Tony Mowbray was in danger of coming to an end after a superb strike from Derek Riordan and a soft Anthony Stokes second-half penalty had cancelled out Robbie Keane’s early opener.

However substitute Morten Rasmussen popped up three minutes from time to slide in the winner to seal a remarkable comeback after Marc-Antoine Fortune had tapped in an 80th minute equaliser.

It was Celtic’s fourth win in a row in the Scottish Premier League, a feat they haven’t achieved in nearly two years, and ruined a potential title party for rivals Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday.

The Gers, who take on Hearts, are now eight points clear of the Hoops and need five points from their remaining five matches to clinch a second successive title.

It was the second time in a week Celtic had come from behind to win after defeating Motherwell 2-1 on Tuesday and Lennon was delighted his players showed the bottle to take the title fight on another week.

“The players are showing they know what it takes to win in the league at last,” the interim boss said.

“That’s four wins in a row which they haven’t done for a long time in the SPL so I’m really proud of them.

“The response was great and I said to them at half-time just polish up your finishing and defending a wee bit. I think they are due to give a team a hiding one of these days but we can’t keep clean sheets at the moment.

“They could easily have buckled again and could easily have buckled after going a goal behind to a good Motherwell team on Wednesday.

“To go 2-1 down against a really slick Hibs team they could have panicked but they didn’t and I’m really pleased for them and the fans.”

Lennon played under Martin O’Neill and Gordon Strachan in his time as a player at the Parkhead club and he said the players were now showing the same will to win that was prevalent under their reins.

“Under Gordon and Martin it was sort of taken as routine that we would maybe be a goal down or drawing in the last five minutes and then there would be a groundswell of pressure from Celtic,” the Hoops gaffer said.

“In the end we got that so they’ve had a wee taste of it, they’ve seen what it’s like and they’ve proved they can do it now.

“I don’t want to say it’s a turning point but I hoped they’ve learned something from it.

“I asked them before if they could score goals in the last ten minutes of games.

“They got a head of steam up today which they haven’t done in a while and you could see how the crowd responded to it. Again it’s a small step in the right direction and it was a big win for them today.”

Lennon took over on an interim basis from Mowbray who was sacked following a 4-0 defeat to St Mirren in March and despite having exited the Scottish Cup to lowly Ross County on his watch the former Hoops captain believes he can land the job full-time in the summer.

“I’ve had one blip, a big blip, and I accept that and the players accepted that,” Lennon said.

“The job consumes you. You think about it nonstop but it’s brilliant. I’m really enjoying my time here at the minute and I’m just trying to get the best for the club over the next few weeks.

“My worry is they can put in a performance like that and next week it’s flat again so I’ve got to be wary. Can we replicate that consistently, can we get that character in the team, the quality at the right time and the never say die attitude to get the crowd on our side?

“Dundee United away is a huge game for us but I will give them a couple of days off to rest and relax and come back for a big, big game.”