Neil Lennon looks to exorcise cup loss

On Wednesday, Lennon will lead his club into a first domestic cup tie since the Scottish Cup semi-final slaying by First Division Ross County in April. Only his third game as interim manager following the sacking of Tony Mowbray, the desperate nature of the defeat looked to have scuppered his hopes of landing the post permanently only for the strength of character he revealed in his handling of the aftermath appeared to end up actually bolstering his credentials.

Lennon admits the hurt of that humiliation has not subsided. Not many of his players will carry that in to the Co-operative Insurance Cup third round tie at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in midweek, however, since only Scott Brown, Paddy McCourt, Lukasz Zaluska and Marc Crosas remain from the players who featured.

"It (Ross County] is not totally behind me but I don't think I would have changed the personnel much from the team I picked," says Lennon, who has endured exits from three competitions - the Champions League and Europa League - in his 17-game tenure. "It still irks me and will do until I win it - if I ever win it - but this is a different competition and one we want to win. That's our main aim this season so we will be putting a strong team out."

Lennon says the midweek tie is "an opportunity to freshen things up". But, in a mischievous nod to Alex Ferguson sending out ten different players against Rangers on Tuesday from the Manchester United team he fielded the previous weekend, the Celtic manager says he won't make "Champions League-style changes". "There will be three or four because I want to see others getting games but I don't want to disrupt the rhythm."