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Pressure mounting on Lennon as Celtic slip 10 points adrift of Rangers

Hearts 2 Celtic 0: IT WAS a blessed relief to everyone that Neil Lennon’s return to Tynecastle was not notable for any security…

EWAN MURRAY at Tynecastle
Mon Oct 03 2011 - 01:00

Hearts 2 Celtic 0:IT WAS a blessed relief to everyone that Neil Lennon's return to Tynecastle was not notable for any security incidents. Yet the Celtic manager suffered a seriously wounding afternoon in Edinburgh.

In May, Celtic’s 3-0 win at this venue was comprehensively overshadowed by a touchline attack on Lennon. This time, thankfully in a more low-key atmosphere, Hearts brushed aside their 10-man visitors to leave Lennon admitting for the first time that he is feeling the heat. Celtic hold a game in hand over Rangers but are 10 points adrift of their oldest rivals.

“I’m always going to be under pressure,” said Lennon. “I’m not going to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. It’s a difficult position that I’m in. But I understand the position as well.”

Lennon’s view is simple: that his players all too often lack mental toughness. Given that the manager could never be accused of lacking bottle when himself a Celtic player, the soft mindset of the current squad is a tough issue for Lennon to grasp: “I’m worried that there is not a lack of desire or anything like that, but a lack of belief, among a few of them, that they can’t sort of pull it round at the minute.”

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Celtic’s cause was hampered here by a sending-off for Kris Commons with 25 minutes to play. Lennon confirmed that the midfielder – who lunged into Adrian Mrowiec – will be fined.

“One player lost his discipline and let us down badly.”

Nonetheless, the generosity of Celtic’s defence makes them constantly vulnerable, and so it transpired. Daniel Majstorovic failed to clear a lobbed ball towards the Celtic penalty area from Jamie Hamill, enabling Hearts’ David Templeton to lay off for Rudi Skacel, who lashed a left-footed effort past Fraser Forster.

The Commons aberration followed and Stevenson’s goal, the midfielder scoring from close range after Templeton laid the ball into his path, left Lennon a disconsolate figure.

HEARTS: MacDonald, Hamill, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Templeton (Novikovas 84), Jonsson, Mrowiec, Black (Gordon Smith 88), Skacel (Obua 77), Stevenson. Subs not used: Balogh, Elliott, McGowan, Robinson. Booked: Skacel, Black.

CELTIC: Forster, Matthews (Mark Wilson 73), Majstorovic, Mulgrew, El Kaddouri (McCourt 79), Forrest, Ki, Wanyama, Commons, Hooper, Bangura (Stokes 59). Subs not used: Zaluska, Samaras, Rogne, Slane. Booked: Ki.

Referee: Craig Thomson (Scotland).