CHRISTOPHER Jullien was delighted to win his first trophy as a professional footballer, and the fact he scored the only goal of the League Cup final at Hampden made the success all the sweeter.

His manager, not surprisingly, was thrilled for the French defender, and believes the confidence that the goal and the winner’s medal will give the player can only be beneficial to the squad for the remainder of the season.

“I didn’t feel like celebrating the goal because there was still a long way to go in the game,” admitted Neil Lennon, "But I’m delighted for Christopher. I felt he was a bit tentative in the first half, with it being his first cup final, but he got stronger and stronger.

“It’s a bit like his Celtic career really – he started off a little tentatively, but he’s got stronger and stronger, and for him to score a winner in a cup final for Celtic will do his confidence the world of good.”

The Hoops boss also praised Jeremie Frimpong for his performance which, up until his red card, had been very impressive in what was also his first cup final, and he explained that the Dutch defender was fine after the game, delighted with the team win despite his own personal disappointment.

“I just said to him, ‘Look, you were outstanding, son’,” said the Irishman. “I had no issue with the penalty or the red card, but I thought up to that point he was one of our best payers. For an 18-year-old kid to play as well as that – he can be anything he wants to be.

“He’s untested (defensively) because he’s so good and he takes players the other way, but we see him every day in training against the likes of Forrest, Hayes, Sinclair, Johnson, Morgan, and he can defend, so we had no qualms about him playing on Sunday.”

Manager: Jullien will get confidence boost from cup-winning goal