Lennon backs under-fire Brown

01 March 2011 18:00

Neil Lennon has no concerns about Scott Brown despite the Celtic skipper being singled out by Rangers defender Kyle Bartley ahead of Wednesday night's Scottish Cup fifth-round replay at Parkhead.

Brown has clashed with El-Hadji Diouf in recent Glasgow derbies and Bartley, who was deemed lucky only to be booked three minutes into his Old Firm debut for a foul on Brown, rekindled the fire again at the weekend. Bartley said: "Not many people at Rangers get on with Scott Brown and I'm not his biggest fan so we will see what happens in the next game."

However Lennon revealed he had no plans for a pep talk with his skipper, saying: "He doesn't need me to say anything to him."

He added: "Scotty can look after himself and he has proved that this season.

"There will be no special talk about that. Players know that discipline is important in these games but they should relish the challenge."

After the 2-0 defeat by Motherwell at Fir Park on Sunday, the Hoops' first defeat in 18 games, Lennon is looking for his players to recapture their hunger against their Old Firm rivals, whom they beat convincingly 3-0 in their last meeting.

"It is only 10 days ago so it will be fresh in their minds," he said.

"I want to see that hunger again. There was an intensity to their play that wasn't really evident on Sunday. So we are looking for a positive reaction. After every negative result you are looking for a return to form.

"The players didn't do themselves justice at Motherwell and they know that. The general feeling from them was they had let themselves down.

"They will want to go out there and do better They have been fantastic the last couple of months so I won't be over critical."

Source: PA