Angry Lennon blasts bad Bhoys Stokes and Hooper

NEIL LENNON blasted Irish striker Anthony Stokes and his strike partner Gary Hooper after the club’s 0-0 draw against Hibernian at the weekend.

A lacklustre display against a side they hammered 4-1 in the League Cup quarter-final tie at Easter Road three days previously saw the Hoops drop 12 points behind SPL leaders Rangers and three behind second-placed Motherwell.

Lennon pointed the finger specifically at striker Stokes and Hooper.

“I thought the two of them were poor today and I need some more consistency from them,” he said.

“If they are not scoring goals they need to bring something else to the team and I thought the two of them were very flat.”

Lennon, who has found himself being linked with the vacant manager’s post at his former club Leicester, will again tinker with his side for the visit of French club Rennes.

“There has been a lot of football played in the last few weeks,” said the former Celtic skipper.

“I had a team in mind anyway so there will be changes.

“We have played okay in the last two European games and I will be looking for a really good performance on Thursday night.

“If we win it we will be in a decent position in the group and that’s what we are aiming for.”

Elsewhere Rangers made it seven wins from seven away matches with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Aberdeen.

Kyle Lafferty fired the Gers ahead on 58 minutes and Nikica Jelavic made it 2-0 with a 69th-minute penalty.

Richard Foster pulled a goal back for the Dons after an Allan McGregor blunder before Aberdeen were reduced to 10 men by the sending off of Rory Fallon for elbowing Dorin Goian.