NEIL LENNON is convinced the Celtic jigsaw is coming together with two crucial games looming in the next six days.
The Hoops boss will see his champions bring down the curtain on another history-making year on Wednesday when Dundee United provide the last competition of 2020 at Parkhead.
And then Lennon will turn his attention to Ibrox on Saturday for the first encounter of the New Year as Scotland’s title kings continue to chip away at the 16-point advantage held by Steven Gerrard’s outfit although the nine-in-a-row aces have three games in hand.
The Irishman admitted there is a long way to go in the pursuit of the crown, but after the well-merited 3-0 victory over Hamilton Accies at storm-lashed New Douglas Park yesterday where the prolific double-act of Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths dovetailed superbly he reckons the players are getting back into their stride after a difficult spell.
The win over Brian Rice’s side was Celtic’s third consecutive lPremiership victory in which they have kept clean sheets in overcoming Kilmarnock 2-0, Ross County 2-0 and now Accies.
Lennon, speaking to the Sunday Mail, said: “I wouldn’t make predictions about the game at Ibrox, it’s too early for that.
“But are they capable of going there and winning? Yeah, they’ve proved in the past they can do it.
“We’ve got Dundee United first, so it’s one step at a time. But we’re moving forward in the right direction.
“I want us to play more like that and keep creating chances. There was more flamboyance about us.
“All we can do is keep putting pressure on. We have to get our own house in order before thinking about other teams.
“We’re starting to do that.”
Lennon continued: “I thought we were outstanding. We were brilliant in the first-half and should have been two or three up.
“It’s the best we’ve played for a while and the body language of the players was excellent. It’s a great three points for us.
“I’m not saying we’ve turned a corner, there’s a long way to go.
“We’ve got to do the right things a lot more of the time – but we’re starting to do it better.
“That comes from application, attitude and confidence. There’s a lot more zest and fluency to the way we’re playing now.”
After a series of near things in the opening 45 minutes, Edouard hit the breakthrough goal via the penalty spot shortly after the turnaround. Griffiths added a second and David Turnbull knocked in the third.
Lennon added: “The application and quality was great. We could have won the game by a lot more.
“It’s the quality of chances we’re creating now, which we weren’t doing previously. We’re looking a lot more like ourselves.
“I’m delighted with that because it could have been a very difficult game.
“We made it look easy which it wasn’t.”
