John Kennedy heaped praise on Celtic’s under-fire boss Neil Lennon for keeping calm in the crisis that has engulfed the Hoops as their 10 In A Row dream imploded.
Lennon led his side to their fifth straight win on Wednesday, 1-0 against Aberdeen, but the club trail Rangers by a massive 15 points and his No.2 knows that while the title is all but gone, his gaffer has worked tirelessly to steady a ship that looked holed below the waterline.
The victory also consigned the Dons to an unwanted record of six games without a goal for the first time in their history – a landmark that boss Derek McInnes admits hurts everyone at the club.
Celtic too are hurting but Kennedy believes Lennon is leading them into a better place.
He said: “Neil has been terrific. He has come under a lot of pressure and scrutiny.
“But he’s a terrific guy, a terrific manager, and works hard. He spends a lot of time at the training ground.
“We do a lot of work together and we aren’t shying away and saying the season has been fine. It hasn’t and we have underperformed.
“We have had a high bar in terms of what everyone expects and we haven’t quite got to the level we have wanted to, or expected to.
“Neil has been great with myself and the staff. He has been very calm too. In the past Neil was fiery and emotional but he has stayed very calm.
“He has been clear in where we need to go to get improvements and albeit, we are behind, in recent games it’s been a lot better.”
Kennedy believes David Turnbull, who notched a superb winner last night, has forced himself into Scotland consideration on the back of recent displays.
He added: “I wouldn’t rule it out. Steve (Clarke) will have a lot of decisions to make with his squad. Maybe he will be loyal to the guys that got him there.
“But David is doing everything he can in terms of performances to ask the question.”
McInnes left Parkhead frustrated at his team’s failure to score – and with referee Alan Muir’s refusal to give a first-half spot-kick for a handball by Celtic’s Stephen Welsh that would have given the Dons the chance to avoid that unwanted record.
The Aberdeen manager said: “The more you talk about it – and clearly that’s the narrative at the minute of not scoring goals – the more it becomes an issue.
“But clearly that can change. You need a bit of luck at times and we should get a penalty in the first half when it comes off Welsh’s hand.
“If we are being consistent then Tommie Hoban had a penalty given against him at St Mirren earlier in the season for the exact same incident.
“But sometimes when you are on a run like this and not scoring goals you do need a bit of luck.”
Asked if he and the team were hurting following the recent run, McInnes added: “Of course it does, but we need to take responsibility for that.
“Hornby in the second half showed signs of what he’s capable of. Kamberi was good throughout.
“He has hit the post, he has worked the keeper, he looked a threat. We are working with the boys we have brought in to try to get them up to speed.
“I am encouraged but also disappointed that we now hold that record and of course it is not something that we want to have aimed at us but it’s there and only we can do something about it now.”
