Scottish Cup: Lennon praises Brown after his Old Firm equaliser

Jamie Ness had fired the home side into the lead with a thundering drive from the edge of the box in the third minute, but the Parkhead men fought back with a goal from Old Firm debutant Kris Commons.

Steven Whittaker restored Rangers' advantage from the spot after Hoops keeper Fraser Forster had been sent off for bringing down Steven Naismith in the box.

However, even with ten men, Celtic were the better side and Brown levelled in the 64th minute with a shot from the edge of the box before Naismith, booked in the first half for a foul on Mark Wilson, was sent off for simulation inside the visitors' penalty area.

Lennon described his side's performance as "absolutely brilliant" but had special words of praise for his skipper.

He added: "Scott Brown was immense. You saw what a captain he can be, he scored a wonderful goal and I couldn't be more pleased for him.

"He is a top player, a big-game player and when he has played for me he has been a leader.

"He stood up to all the baiting that was going on, he revels in it, I think he enjoyed the challenge.

"He also enjoys being the leader in the dressing room and he is one of the reasons why the spirit is so good.

"A lot of people don't see what he does off the field. He is a great kid and we think very highly of him."

The replay will take place at Celtic Park on March 2 with the winners drawn away to Inverness in the quarter-finals.

The Glasgow giants, who are also scheduled to meet in the Co-operative Insurance Cup final at Hampden on March 20, will face each other seven times this season but Lennon insists the Old Firm environment is where reputations are made.

He said: "These are the fixtures you want to play in if you are involved in the Old Firm. These are the games that define you and I take a hell of a lot of pleasure by the way my team played yesterday, I was very proud of them."

Meanwhile, Madjid Bougherra admits yet another game against Celtic is the last thing Rangers need.

Walter Smith's men already have a packed schedule, which includes Europa League ties against Sporting Lisbon in the coming weeks, and Bougherra says the prospect of yet more games is not good news. He said: "It's not a good thing because we have many games coming up, including the Europa League. We have a big month in February and maybe March as well. We wanted to win today."

Rangers defender Bougherra added: "The performance wasn't the best. We started the game well and we finished the first half well. We were also good for the first ten minutes of the second half but after that we were too deep.

"We couldn't keep the ball and it was a difficult second half. We have the draw and we are very disappointed because, after the red card, we went to 2-1 and Celtic were able to come back with their chances."

Forster was sent off just before half-time and Bougherra believes Rangers should have killed off the tie while they had the advantage in terms of numbers, before Naismith's red card.

He added: "Of course. It was more about the second half.

"Nikica Jelavic made the pass to Steven Davis and he needed just one centimetre to score.

"If he had scored that goal, the game would have changed completely.

"But, afterwards, Celtic kept going and they scored the second goal. Mentally, they killed us a little bit.

"We tried not to concede another goal because we were a little bit tired by the end of the 90 minutes."

Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist backed referee Callum Murray's decision to send off Naismith.

When asked for his own view on the incident, Bougherra said: "Now it's finished. He had a foul before he fell but for the referee to take this game is very difficult.

"Sometimes there are good decisions and sometimes there are bad decisions but we don't think about this now."