Diouf is one of multiple targets as Neil Lennon launches scattergun attack

As the fall-out from Sunday's Old Firm Scottish Cup fifth round tie at Ibrox continued to linger, Lennon launched a scattergun attack on several of the key figures in the dramatic 2-2 draw. Referee Calum Murray and his assistant Willie Conquer were in Lennon's sights for contentious decisions during the match, while Rangers players El-Hadji Diouf and Steven Naismith were also singled out for criticism. Lennon, who was facing the media at Lennoxtown as he was named Clydesdale Bank SPL manager of the month for January, also took a verbal swipe at Dundee United manager Peter Houston, who defended Naismith's actions in being sent-off during the match, and expressed his frustration at the SFA's tardiness in setting a date for his appeal against a six-match touchline suspension.

It was the yellow card shown by Murray to his captain Scott Brown on Sunday, for celebrating the goal which made it 2-2 directly in the face of Diouf, which Lennon appeared most annoyed by yesterday. A war of words has ensued since between Brown and Diouf, with the Senegalese player also accusing Lennon of confronting him in the tunnel at half-time. "I can't understand for the life of me why Scott got booked," said Lennon. "What's the craic with that one? I cannot understand it at all. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his celebration.

"I know Diouf has said something about me, which is nonsense. I told him to keep quiet, because he had a lot to say for himself and you're only getting one side of the story from his point of view. There was a lot went on in the game and I think these things should be left on the pitch, instead of telling everyone how hard done by he feels.

"I look forward to seeing who he has a pop at next, maybe it will be John Clark the kit man. I'll let Scott deal with it, as he seems to be handling the situation very well as far as I can see. I think Scott has done enough now, there will not be any more tit-for-tat stuff from Scott, that's for sure."

Lennon added that Brown's booking was "the only criticism I have of the referee" but went on to suggest he could have dismissed Naismith earlier in the match and that Steven Whittaker merited a caution for his celebration of the goal which put Rangers 2-1 ahead.

"He (Murray] called it right with Naismith's red card," said Lennon, "but he also went to take a dive in the first ten minutes of the game and didn't get booked, so he can count himself fortunate to be on the pitch as long as he was.

"When we won 2-0 at Ibrox in January, Georgios Samaras got booked for leaving the pitch after scoring. But I saw Whittaker leave the pitch on Sunday after the penalty and there didn't seem to be a yellow card for that. I'm not going down the line of criticising referees. I said after the game that he got the majority of the big decisions right. But I was disappointed with the linesman's decision when he called Samaras offside later in the game, as he was clearly yards onside. I don't understand how he got that one wrong."

Lennon's latest bone of contention with Houston, which will add extra spice to this Sunday's SPL meeting between Dundee United and Celtic at Tannadice, surrounds the Scotland assistant manager's public defence of Naismith on Monday when he insisted it would be unfair to accuse the player of cheating in his bid to earn a second penalty during the match.

There is already little love lost between Lennon and Houston following the controversial first meeting of the season between their teams in October which sparked off Celtic's current feud with officialdom. "I'm not happy with the United manager's comments about certain things," said Lennon.

"I find his comments about Naismith a bit bizarre, especially after he accused Ki Sung Yeung of going down like a sack of tatties when we played them at Tannadice. 'It must have been a slippy pitch on Sunday.' Obviously, he (Houston) is an expert groundsman as well now."

Lennon currently remains free to influence his team from the technical area, a job he is performing to tremendous effect with Sunday's result stretching Celtic's unbeaten run to 15 games and keeping them in contention to win all three domestic trophies this season. He is still waiting to discover, however, when his appeal against a six-match ban for excessive misconduct during the 2-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle three months ago will be heard.

"It's dragging on a bit and I'd rather get it done," said Lennon. "I've not heard anything more (from the SFA). It goes back to the start of November and we are now into February. We obviously take a bit of blame for it, because we've lodged an appeal because we thought the punishment was excessive."

Lennon earned the manager of the month award for a January which saw his side take 13 points from their five SPL matches, including impressive victories over Rangers and Hearts.

"It was unquestionably my most satisfying month yet as Celtic manager," he said.

"Not just the results, but the level of performance as well. "We have played a lot of games and come through them very well. We have played good football, defended well when we had to, and scored some great goals along the way.

"We are not getting carried away. There is a long way to go in the season and it is going to get a lot more fraught and intense.

"But I am very, very pleased with the way we have played for the last six or seven weeks."