NEIL LENNON has praised the mentality of his Celtic players after they won their first game in five to reach the Scottish Cup final.
Lennon says he never doubted that his men would come good after two defeats and two draws in their last four matches before the 2-0 win over Aberdeen at Hampden yesterday.
The Celtic manager believes that his team’s performances have been better than their results have suggested, but he has challenged his men to improve further as he warned them against thinking they had turned a corner with the win over the Dons.
“I’ve no problem with the players’ character or their form, they’ve shown good form,” Lennon said.
“There was the second half against Milan, I thought we played well at Aberdeen and were unfortunate not to win.
“I thought we were outstanding on Thursday night [against Lille] and we followed it up with a really good performance today.
“It’s not that they needed confidence, they just needed to get that win again I suppose.
“I’m not saying it will be plain sailing form here on in, there will be challenges as we go along, but the important thing was to get through to the Cup Final and we’ve done that comfortably.
“We now have another big day to look forward to.
“I thought we were outstanding - it was a stunning first half performance in particular.
“We were going into the game off a tough European tie last week against a good side.
“Because of that there was maybe a little bit of fatigue in the second half, which was understandable.
“But I thought we were in control and now have a cup final to look forward to.
“It says a lot about the mentality of the players.
“I would have liked it if we could have tried to get a few more goals but the players are giving us everything and there have been some good signs in the last week or so.
“I’m not saying we’ve turned the corner completely because I think we can get better still. But it’s another victory in a cup tie where the players have shown magnificent consistency.”
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