Lennon dismayed with ´poor´ Celtic

Celtic manager Neil Lennon said his men ‘ran out of a bit of heart’ in the loss to Inverness that halted their title charge.

The Hoops went down 3-2 at Tulloch Caledonian Stadium on Wednesday, leaving the Scottish powerhouse one point behind Scottish Premer League-leading Rangers on the table after 33 games.

Lennon said there was no part of the park he was happy with in his side’s loss to the league’s seventh-placed outfit.

“Defensively we were poor, going forward we were poor. You never expect that kind of performance,” Lennon told BBC Scotland.

“We need to take the title to at least the last day of the season. And with a bit of luck somebody might do us a favour along the way.”

The former Celtic captain watched on as his men created enough chances but failed to dominate, ensuring they were unable to use their game-in-hand to stay ahead of bitter rivals Rangers in the title fight.

“We didn’t start the second half anywhere near the way we should have,” Lennon said.

“At half-time we told them we needed a bit more in the final third. We kept getting into good positions and failing.”

“Defensively, some of the guys picked today of all days to have their worst game of the season. We went AWOL at the start of the second period.”

“Midfield were okay, but our front two in the second half gave us very, very little. They never looked like scoring.”

“I’m very disappointed with the second-half performance, very disappointed.”

Lennon said his side’s spirit was lacking despite a two-point league lead on offer had they taken all three points on Wednesday.

“We looked like a team that ran out of ideas very quickly – and ran out of a bit of heart as well,” he said.

“That’s not something I can’t throw at them for the majority of the season. Inverness wanted it more.”

“It could have been worse. We were all over the place – particularly in the central areas.”

“The two centre-halves had just one player to mark, but (Adam) Rooney kept running away from us.”