FROM NEIL DOHERTY IN PERTH: CELTIC recorded their seventh straight SPL win in a row with a 2-0 victory at St Johnston today, with manager Neil Lennon singling out the performance of Georgios Samaras.
The Greece international was in form in Perth again today after some fine performances recently.
Gary Hooper stabbed home from close range following a 60th-minute corner and Ki Sung-Yeung fired in after a quick break four minutes later to reduce the gap with Rangers to four points.
“Samaras was brilliant, as was Hooper and Forrest in the second half,” said Lennon.
“I don’t like singling people out, but Samaras brings something different to the team. We need players like that.”
A couple of months ago many Celtic fans – including many in Donegal – were asking why Lennon had bothered keeping the Greek. Now he’s showing why.
“He’s proven his character this season,” said Lennon.
“People were pointing the finger at him, saying he was lazy, but I’ve seen a different character.
“I’m pleased he’s shown a level of consistency that’s doing him justice.
“It was magnificent from start to finish. We dominated the first half and their keeper kept them in it to keep the score at 0-0.
“In the second half, we just seemed to find another level.
“The second goal was world class. It’s something we’ve been trying to do on the counter attack for a while.”
The win puts Celtic back to within four points of Rangers.
“I could go through the whole team and there’s not one failure,” said Lennon, who stuck with the same side who drew with Udinese in the Europa League in midweek.
“Coming off the back of Thursday, they’re really in the groove.
“We’ve now got seven wins in a row, which breeds a lot of confidence, but the belief is there as well.
“They’ve found the form of last season earlier than they did last year.
“We’ve got players to come back into the fray, but St Johnstone are a difficult side to break down, they’ve had a good start to the season.
“They’ve had some adverse results, but at home it’s always hard here.
“To play as well and create the chances we did, it’s very pleasing.”
The bad news is that Celtic could be without Daniel Majstorovic for up to six weeks after the defender suffered a serious facial injury in the win.
Said Lennon: “It looks like a fractured cheekbone. It could be a fractured eye-socket.
“It’ll have to be scanned and assessed, but it’s a massive blow for us.
“He could be out for four to six weeks, but we’ll see how he is before we give him a definitive time out.”
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