Celtic boss Neil Lennon hails 'huge hurdle cleared' after Rangers win
James Forrest struck with four minutes left to settle Old Firm
Sunday 31 March 2019 16:37, UK
Neil Lennon hailed his Celtic players after James Forrest's strike sealed a 2-1 win over Rangers that puts them on the brink of the Scottish Premiership title.
Odsonne Edouard opened the scoring in the 27th minute before Alfredo Morelos was dismissed by referee Bobby Madden for throwing an elbow at Scott Brown, his fifth red card of the season, albeit the first was rescinded.
Rangers levelled through Ryan Kent but Forrest drove in the winner to take the champions 13 points clear at the top with seven games remaining.
Lennon said: "It was a brilliant game of football. The psychology of it changed when Rangers scored and they put us under pressure.
"When both teams were down to 10 men it became very open. It's like 'Emergency - Ward 10' in there, emotionally and physically.
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"This is psychologically a massive blow [to Rangers] for us to win today, it's a huge hurdle cleared.
"We were a little bit passive in the second half and allowed Rangers to come onto us, but I thought we deserved it. Rangers really threw things at us but we scored a great goal to win it.
"I can't ask any more than the players are giving me at the minute. We dug in deep and I thought Edouard was immense. He scored a great goal and produced a great lay-off for the second."
Rangers manager Steven Gerrard claimed Scott Brown antagonised his players with the Celtic captain being at the centre of all the game's major flashpoints.
But Lennon rejected Gerrard's complaints, claiming that Rangers were fortunate not to be reduced to nine men after Forrest's winner.
He added: "Brown's been caught by an elbow [by Morelos] and then Kent's put his hands in his face. If anyone's got any complaints about provocation it's me and my captain.
"I don't need to give him any advice. My players were exemplary in their discipline, while their players weren't.
"I thought it was scandalous that Kent stayed on the pitch and it's the only thing the referee got wrong today. Rangers should have been down to nine men - those incidents are not on."
