Lennon says outstanding Celtic silenced critics in derby triumph

Neil Lennon has called for more respect for his Celtic team after a 2-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox.

Odsonne Edouard opened the scoring before Jonny Hayes capped off a fine afternoon with a goal late on.

Lennon reckons his team silenced a lot of critics.

He said: “It was an outstanding performance. It’s been a difficult couple of weeks. Myself, the board, the players have been written off so early.

“We were on the front foot from the start. We dominated the first half, weren’t really in any trouble and Allan McGregor kept Rangers in it from the scoreline being three or four today.

“Maybe, maybe now people will cut us a bit of slack and respect us.”

Lennon paid tribute to a raft of his stars, with the much-questioned defence performing admirably, while Edouard shone in attack.

He said: “Yeah, you can use it. Rangers were in great form and we were in great form, but we felt we had the quality.

“New players coming in, bedding in, you give (Christopher) Jullien Man of the Match and he’s shown what he can do, (Boli) Bolingoli outstanding, but the whole team have been playing so well.

“We’ve got great players and I thought my captain and McGregor really set the tone today as you have to do, and were physical.

“I thought the referee had a great game and he needed to. Rangers were physical, but we came out on top and deservedly so.

“Abd Elhamed, he had another outstanding game, then Moritz came on and did a great job for us, Ntcham when he came on was outstanding and Hayes wraps it up.”

“He’s (Edouard) a very talented player. He’s having an outstanding 18 months now. He was a huge player for me when I came in from February onwards and he’s started the season in the same vein.

“He’s talented, he’s cold, he’s got great composure under pressure and his finish is typical Odsonne.

“We’re delighted with the progress he’s making and he could go on to have a fabulous career.

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