Amateur teams put on the spot as Lennon’s players stop to watch shootout

They won more friends yesterday by carrying out a professional job on their Third Division opponents, whose robust approach saw Joe Ledley substituted after a clash with fellow midfielder Jamie Redman. Neil Lennon, the Celtic manager, admitted he “wasn’t happy” with the challenge but attributed it to spirit rather than malice on the part of their opponents.

Redman himself pleaded not guilty to the charge of recklessness. “I’ve not seen it again and certainly didn’t aim to make contact with him.” he said. “If I have, then I apologise, but it wasn’t intentional. I came off later on after going up for a header, so it’s part of the game. We shook hands at the end.”

Lennon accepted that Peterhead’s game-plan was to try to unsettle their opponents with their physical approach. Peterhead manager Jim McInally, who is a good friend of Lennon, was not about to start apologising for the tactic. “There were a lot of angry Celtic players at times,” he said. “If he [Lennon] is annoyed, then he is annoyed. We can’t stand back and let them play. We have to try and get in about them. To be fair to our players, they did that.”

Lennon described Ledley’s eye injury as needing to be ‘glued-back together’ but he should be available for this weekend’s clash with Dundee United. “I don’t think any of the challenges were crude, but we were just quicker to the ball at times,” Lennon said. “There were a few meaty challenges, but you expect that when you come away from home.

“These boys [Peterhead] are spirited and I didn’t think there was any real malice in any of the challenges. You always worry you could get injuries at any time. We have lost [Beram] Kayal for what could be a considerable period of time. You want to restrict the injuries to as little as you can.”

Lennon also confirmed that his team stopped off to watch a penalty shoot-out on the outskirts of Aberdeen on Saturday, much to the surprise of the amateur players involved. “We had been on the bus for three hours and we decided to go out and watch a penalty shoot-out,” he said. “It was a little bit of a stretch [for the players]. The quality of the penalties was excellent. I think it ended up 10-9 – the goalkeeper missed the last one. Maybe we should sign a couple of those players.”

Celtic midfielder James Forrest sat out yesterday’s game with a virus, while Gary Hooper was also absent as he seeks to shake off injury niggles. Anthony Stokes stepped in in his strike partner’s absence and had a profitable afternoon as he picked up a hat-trick. The treble brings him level with Hooper on 15 goals for the season. The pair are in competition with each other to see who finishes as highest goalscorer at the end of the campaign.

“I’m sure he [Hooper] would have liked to play and stay ahead of me, but it wasn’t to be,” said Stokes, “I haven’t spoken to him yet to wind him up, but I might send him a text on the way back. It’s a good bit of banter between us. It’s not something that would ever affect us when we’re on the pitch. If the other one is in a better position then we would pass.

“We enjoy playing with each other, but all we want to do is score goals. You’ve got to look after yourself. We’ll see what happens over the next few weeks.”

Reports of Celtic looking to bring in Hearts goalkeeper Marian Kello, meanwhile, look to be wide of the mark after Lennon yesterday confirmed talks have begun with Lukasz Zaluska on the subject of a new contract. The Pole started his first game since September yesterday, although he had little to do to keep a clean sheet.

“I spoke to Lukasz last week and I will speak to him again early this week and hopefully we can get it resolved,” said Lennon. “I don’t think we are too far away. I would like to keep him because he is a good back-up and a great professional. Whenever he comes in he does a great job.”

Celtic also have former PSV Eindhoven midfielder Rabiu Ibrahim on trial this week. The 20-year-old Nigerian has just been released by the Dutch club.