Experience tells Neil Lennon he can’t afford to treat Falkirk lightly

By ALLAN PATTULLO
Published on Saturday 28 January 2012 04:25

EVEN after a dozen successive league victories, Neil Lennon knows that he has much to lose over the next 11 days. Before Celtic next step out on Scottish Premier League duty they must seek to negotiate two awkward-looking cup ties, starting against First Division side Falkirk tomorrow afternoon.

In seven days’ time, in the Scottish Cup, Celtic return to Inverness, with all the baggage that entails. The leaders’ next league mission is not exactly straightforward either, since it involves a midweek trip to Tynecastle – again, with all the baggage that entails.

Indeed, Celtic will be pining for the comforts of home by the time they next host a team at Parkhead. Inverness Caledonian Thistle are due in the east end of Glasgow on 11 February, at the end of a run of just one home fixture in seven outings. It is, undoubtedly, another one of those make-or-break periods.

“We could be out of two competitions by the time we play our next league game,” remarked Lennon yesterday. It is a statement no one can argue with, although the Celtic fans will not wish to entertain the notion. There is, they know, recent evidence to suggest that Celtic can’t expect to have it all their own way at Hampden Park tomorrow, in the semi-final of the Communities League Cup.

Twenty months ago Lennon’s reign seemed doomed, only a matter of weeks after it had begun. A 2-0 loss to Ross County at the same venue and at the same stage of the Scottish Cup acts as a fairly resonant warning to those who might be expecting an uncomplicated afternoon. Georgios Samaras is one player who could describe the trauma of climbing back off the team bus at Parkhead after losing to First Division opponents at the national stadium. Lennon seemed all too aware of the dangers posed by Falkirk when he looked ahead to the game yesterday.

The Celtic manager is hoping to avoid the kind of drama he saw unfold in Melbourne, courtesy of Andy Murray. He held up his press briefing to watch Murray claw his way back into the match in the fifth set. “I hope our game isn’t as close as Andy Murray’s – or as long,” he said. Extra time could, of course, be required tomorrow at Hampden.

“I’d imagine we’ll be clear favourites for the game but we’ve seen it so many times – it can bite back at you,” he said. “It’s a dangerous game and you wonder whether their [Falkirk’s] name is on it [the trophy] having beaten Rangers and Dundee United along the way.”

Lennon was giving Falkirk plenty of respect yesterday. Indeed, sometimes it felt as though he was over-doing it on the cautionary front. He is, though, speaking from a position of authority having endured what was possibly Celtic’s worst ever cup experience against Ross County in 2010.

“They [Falkirk] are a good team, unbeaten in a wee while, and play with a bit of vigour,” he said. “Their centre forward [Farid El Alagui] has also scored a lot of goals for them this season.

“In these games, if you are not at your best, you can get done,” he added. “Semi-finals are tight, tense games, because you are just one game away from the final.

“We’ll try and be positive with the players and prepare them as best we can. They’re quietly confident, and rightly so. But it’s a neutral ground, different ball, different opposition. They’ll have to adapt very quickly.”

Just as Ross County’s did, the Falkirk side will include players who are hoping to prove a point to Celtic. In fact, former Ross County player Michael McGovern lines up in goal tomorrow, just as he did that day in April two years ago. Mark Millar, the Falkirk playmaker, is another who was jettisoned by Celtic, as was the 16 year-old prodigy Craig Sibbald.

Then there is El Alagui, the side’s principal goal-getter. “He’s been pretty consistent,” said Lennon, of a striker who has scored 21 times this season, including twice against Rangers in the third round of the same competition. “He’s come from nowhere basically. Credit to Steven [Pressley] for sticking with him.”

Given Lennon’s guarded stance, it was obvious that he wasn’t about to start waxing lyrical about the prospect of a treble-season. “Listen, the last team to do it at Celtic was Martin’s team, which cost a lot of money,” he said. “And the last team before that was probably the Lions. So you can see that it’s almost an impossible thing to do.

“We’re not really thinking about the treble,” he added. “We’re thinking about progressing on Sunday and progressing in the Scottish Cup, and then looking ahead to Hearts. Three huge games. We should be licking our lips, looking forward to these games.”

Should be, yes. And yet it was possible to trace some trepidation in Lennon. The wound left by Ross County has clearly not yet healed.