Lennon: 'In any other season we'd be 10 points clear, that's fantastic'

Chief football writer

Thursday 23 February 2012

Neil Lennon heaped praise on his Celtic players last night, stressing that it was a fantastic achievement that they would be 10 points ahead of Rangers even if the Ibrox club hadn't been penalised for going into administration.

Neil Lennon

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Michael Grant

Celtic won their 19th consecutive game, and 16th-in-a-row in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, to open up a 20-point gap at the top of the table. The Celtic manager gently mocked strikers Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper for "taking the night off" after a series of misses but Charlie Mulgrew and James Forrest scored in the 2-0 defeat of Dunfermline. "I've never known a 20-point gap," said Lennon. "Obviously you have to look at Rangers' 10-point deduction playing a huge part in it, but in any other season we would still be 10 points clear and for me that would be fantastic at this stage in the season."

The team was determined not to lose its winning sequence, he said. "We just remind them not to spoil it, don't let the run get away from them. Something like this happens maybe only once in their career and they should hold on to it for as long as they can. They could easily have switched off and gone home thinking 'we've chucked that one away' but they didn't."The only criticism I could have was we were wasteful in front of goal. They are allowed a day off one of these days."Dunfermline remain bottom on goal difference, five behind Hibs. "Celtic were the better side and I'm not going to say we deserved something, because we didn't," said manager Jim McIntyre. "I have every confidence we can stay in this league."

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Lennon: 'In any other season we'd be 10 points clear, that's fantastic'

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