NEIL Lennon praised his team’s ‘powerful display’ as the Hoops beat Livingston 4-0 to move three points clear at the top of the Premiership table ahead of Sunday’s league fixtures.

The Celtic manager saw his side dominate proceedings against the only team to have beaten them domestically this season, with the goals coming from Odsonne Edouard, Scott Brown and a double from James Forrest.

Speaking after the win at Paradise, the Celtic manager said: “The football was superb and it was a very comprehensive win against a very tough team to beat at times. Off the back of the two-week break for the internationals, it’s always a worry – do you lose a bit of momentum, but there was no sign of that today at all.

“There were some outstanding individual performances – Frimpong, Jullien, McGregor, Brown, Forrest – I could name them all, really, because there was not one weakness out there, so I’m absolutely thrilled with that.

“These games can bite you, but our professionalism and the intent that we had was top-class. We asked them at half-time again, could they go and pile on the pressure and keep the goals coming, and I thought they declared at three, but they went and got another one in the 93rd minute, so they’re giving me everything.

“It’s another clean sheet, and at the minute, to pick up where we left off is very pleasing and it’s a great start to this block of games we’ve got coming up.

“Psychologically, that’s a good win for us and we can enjoy our Sunday. We’ve put that one to bed. That was a tough game, under the circumstances, but we’ve dealt with it absolutely brilliantly, so we look forward to Rennes on Thursday.”

There was also an added boost for the squad with the return of Leigh Griffiths, who came off the bench for the last 22 minutes of the game. His introduction to the proceedings was greeted with the biggest cheer of the afternoon, and his manager is delighted to see the striker making his way back to full fitness.

“You can see how popular Leigh is with the fans,” Neil Lennon said. “You can see he’s still got a bit to do, but he’s sniffing out chances and his work-rate was good. So it’s a timely comeback for him, with the volume of games we’ve got coming up.

“We want him to get fitter and to stay fit, and stay at that level, and there’s plenty more to come from him.”

The manager also confirmed that Jonny Hayes was forced off after the break, having popped his shoulder early in the game. He was replaced by Greg Taylor, who slotted in seamlessly at left-back for the majority of the second half. Celtic will assess the extent of the Irishman’s injury on Monday.

“I was pleased with the physicality of the team today.” the manager added. “Second balls against Livingston are always important and we dealt well with them – our midfield was very strong today.

“I thought our two centre-halves were outstanding, so they learned their lesson from the last game against them, and Jullien, in particular, played very well, which augurs well.”

Manager: Powerful performance at Paradise was very pleasing