Stokes ensures Lennon doesn’t add to troubles

NEIL LENNON is yet to consider the contingency plan for Celtic should his appeal against a six-match touchline ban fail.

The Celtic manager made his last scheduled appearance in the dugout in the 3-0 win at Hibernian on Saturday which consolidated Celtic’s lead at the top of the Clydesdale Bank Premier League table.

Lennon was his usual animated self in the visiting technical area at Easter Road, despite the presence of two officials who have angered him in recent months — referee Craig Thomson and fourth official Willie Collum.

Lennon had no complaints with the officiating as Republic of Ireland striker Anthony Stokes scored twice, his first from the penalty spot, after the returning Gary Hooper netted the opener one minute before half-time.

But he is yet to discuss with his assistants Johan Mjallby and Alan Thompson what will happen if he is banished to the stand.

“We haven’t really sat down to talk about it yet,” he said.

The victory meant Celtic ended a difficult week on a high.

Lennon — one of three intended targets to receive bullets in the post, along with fellow Ulster men Niall McGinn and Paddy McCourt — is appealing the six-match touchline ban imposed after he was sent to the stand by Thomson during a defeat by Hearts in November.

The imminent ban did not prevent Lennon from branding the performance of referee Collum as “not good enough” in the 1-1 draw at Hamilton on Wednesday night.

As for the appeal, Lennon is unaware of its progress.

“I haven’t a clue,” he said.

“It’s in the process and in the hands in the legal team – I’ll probably know more early next week.”

A 15th win from 21 games this season means Celtic are five points clear of Rangers, but their Old Firm rivals have three games in hand, beginning with tomorrow’s clash against Inverness.

Stokes, however, is satisfied with Celtic’s form.

He said: “We’ve been hard to beat – that’s the main thing. We haven’t lost a game in a while.

“We look solid and going forward we look a threat.”

Hibs face a Scottish Cup replay at Irn-Bru Second Division side Ayr tomorrow night, with boss Colin Calderwood hoping to disappoint those expecting a lower-league triumph.

“We need a win and we’ll expect a catalogue of people down there looking for an upset,” he said.

Despite Celtic’s form, Vladimir Weiss is confident Rangers will soon be back on top of the league — if they can repeat their performance against Hamilton in their games in hand.

The Slovakian scored twice and won a penalty as the Scottish champions cruised to a 4-0 win over Accies on Saturday.

However, Rangers have three games in hand and a win in each would put them back into pole position, something Weiss says can happen.

“Definitely, we need to win every game,” said the on-loan Manchester City winger. “If we play like we did in this game, we need to start off playing like this from the first minute in every game.

“If we do that, we should have no problem winning the games we have in hand.”

Weiss made a major contribution when he grabbed a double and a won a penalty, that was converted by Steven Whittaker, before Maurice Edu sealed the win late on.

Kenny Miller, who has been holding talks with Birmingham and Fiorentina after failing to agree a new deal with Rangers, was back in the starting line-up at the weekend.

Weiss added: “ If he goes, it’s not just up to me. There is Nikica Jelavic to come back from injury, James Beattie and Kyle Lafferty. I wish he stays but it’s not up to me.”

Meanwhile, Scottish Premier League clubs meet at Hampden today in a bid to reach consensus on the future structure of the competition.

The SPL presented plans for two divisions of 10 to the 12 clubs earlier this month but agreement still looks some way off, with several chairmen and most fans in favour of a larger top league.