Neil Lennon on what he has banned Ismaila Soro from doing and the often overlooked factor about the current Celtic team

Neil Lennon has hailed his young guns as his Celtic side look to maintain their recent good run against Hamilton Accies today.

Ismaila Soro, one of several youngsters in the Celtic team at the moment (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

While detailing the impact 22-year-old Ismaila Soro has had on the team in recent week, the Celtic manager noted his team’s tender age profile. Inexperience could be one reason for the recent poor run, but Lennon is confident his side are back on track as they attempt to make it three league wins in a row against Hamilton this afternoon.

Lennon might have a decision to make with Scott Brown expected to be fit to return after missing Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over Ross County. Soro has impressed while standing in for Brown, most recently against County after overcoming a bout of food poisoning. It meant he was only able to feature as a substitute – for Brown – in last weekend’s Scottish Cup final win over Hearts.

“I told him he isn't allowed to cook again - he must eat in the canteen!” said Lennon. "He had sickness and diarrhoea the night before, although he felt better in the morning.

"Soro still has to mature a bit in that sense but he will learn. He's only 22 and you know what, I was actually thinking about how young the team is during the week.

"Conor Hazard, Jeremie Frimpong, Kris Ajer, Greg Taylor, Soro, David Turnbull, Mikey Johnston and Odsonne Edouard are all young lads. We have a lot of boys in their early 20s who have been very successful and are hungry for more. They have found it a bit more difficult this season but there is still a long way to go.”

Soro has dovetailed well in Brown’s absence with stand-in skipper Callum McGregor, who continues to be such a lynchpin while surrounded by several younger teammates.

“I thought Callum was superb against Ross County on Wednesday night,” said Lennon "After 120 minutes and a penalty shootout against Hearts, he just goes again. His second half performance against County was exemplary. When Scott doesn't play, Callum is the captain and that's because he is a model professional.”

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription https://www.scotsman.com/subscriptions