Lennon sings Keane's praises

Celtic captain Neil Lennon was not surprised by the attacking role Roy Keane carried out with such panache during the Bank of Scotland Premier League win over Aberdeen on Saturday.

It was thought the signing of the former Manchester United skipper was simply the addition of another holding midfielder for the Parkhead side in the same mould as Lennon.

However, against the Dons the 34-year-old rolled back the years, snapping in several shots at goal and being involved in all three second-half strikes from Stilian Petrov, Shaun Maloney and Maciej Zurawski which secured a comprehensive victory.

An admiring Lennon was content to take a back seat on this occasion to allow Keane to push forward at will.

He said: “That was his trademark early on in his career. He had a hand in all the three goals and it just shows he has got more strings to his bow than just sitting in.

“I just told him: ‘On you go’. Some days it might be a toss-up about who is doing it but you can see he's full of running and full of energy, as were the whole team.

“We’re looking really strong and, in the last few weeks, we’ve really hit a purple patch.”

Lennon also praised the versatile Petrov who was a revelation when he joined Zurawski in attack after Shunsuke Nakamura had replaced John Hartson with the game goalless.

The Bulgarian fired in a terrific 66th-minute opener and, from then on, there was no way back for the Pittodrie side.

Lennon said: “Stilian has played there in training and has been great to watch. The link-up play all round was really good, but it just shows the ability he has to be able to play in a number of positions.

“He just doesn’t fit in, he plays them really well and makes a difference. And, after he scored the first goal, some of the football we played was the best we’ve enjoyed this season.”