Super Hooper extends Bhoys lead

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon insists he is taking nothing for granted in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League title race despite an emphatic victory over Rangers at Parkhead yesterday.

A double from Gary Hooper and an Old Firm derby goal from Kris Commons secured a comfortable 3-0 win for the Hoops.

Defending champions Rangers were well below-par as Celtic cruised to a victory that allowed them to move eight points clear at the top of the table, although Rangers still have two games in hand.

But, as far as Lennon is concerned, there is still far too much football to be played before assumptions can be made about the destination of the trophy this season.

Asked if he now felt he had one hand on the silverware, the Celtic boss said: “No. Other people might say it was a pivotal day.

“We are very pleased, we are more than pleased, because that was emphatic.

“There are still 12 or 13 games to go in the season. In 2005, we had six or seven games left and still lost the league so there is still a lot of football to be played.

“It’s going to get a bit more fraught and tense between now and the end of the season and I’m hoping we have the mentality to handle that.”

However, Lennon is thrilled the destination of the title is now in Celtic’s hands after moving out of reach of Rangers for now, regardless of the results of their games in hand.

He added: “It was a wonderful performance and the team did everything we asked of them. I couldn’t be happier with them.

“It was a real acid test, as people were calling it before the game. Could this team get over the line? They answered all the questions today.

“It’s not just Rangers, since the turn of the year we have played very well against all the opposition we have faced.

“(Yesterday) was a big day in the context of the season and it will give the players a huge lift, a huge shot in the arm, because Rangers are a good team, a strong team, but we played very well.

“For the first time in a while, we are in charge again and it’s in our hands and not theirs. As a team, as a collective, we were excellent today.”

The Old Firm battles are billed as ‘master versus apprentice’ with rookie Lennon up against the vastly experienced Walter Smith.

But the Hoops manager insisted: “He’s still the master, he’s got seven or eight titles under his belt and has made a massive contribution to Scottish football. This league is far from over yet.”

He added: “(Today) was a pressure game for them all under the spotlight.

“In the context of the league it was a huge game and it gives us a bit of a psychological edge but psychology doesn’t win titles.

“You just never know with Old Firm games how they are going to go. As we have seen on many occasions, form goes out of the window.

“There is no doubt we were the form team going into the game and for once it went that way. We were very, very good.”

For his part, Smith is determined to gain the consistency needed to see his side claw themselves back into contention for the title.

Smith conceded his team have not been playing well for a while, and hopes they can get back to their best sooner rather than later.

“I don’t think we’ve been playing that well since the turn of the year,” he admitted. We’ve been patchy with our form although we’ve been able to win some of our games.

“So from our own point of view we need to look to get a better level and a better consistency about us.”

Rangers were well beaten at Parkhead and must now regroup ahead of their trip to Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on Thursday.

“I’m obviously disappointed with the way we played, we deserved no better than what we got,” Smith added.

“We started the game and had plenty of opportunities to keep possession of the ball, we gave it away easily and it was part and parcel of the reason why we lost the first two goals.

“We had possession of the ball and gave it away under no real pressure. Celtic capitalised on that.

“From our point of view it was as poor a performance as we’ve had in a while.”

CELTIC: Forster, Wilson, Majstorovic, Mulgrew, Izaguirre, Brown, Kayal (Ki 60), Ledley, Commons (Forrest 82), Samaras, Hooper (Stokes 85).

RANGERS: McGregor, Whittaker, Weir, Bougherra, Papac, Davis, Diouf (Healy 68), Bartley, Edu, Naismith (Lafferty 46), Jelavic.

Ref: Iain Brines (Scotland).