FOLLOWING Wednesday’s result against Ferencvaros in the UEFA Champions League, Neil Lennon said he wanted a response from his players against Motherwell today (Sunday). Goals from James Forrest, Albian Ajeti and Christopher Jullien ensured three points at Paradise, and the manager was suitably pleased.

While the Irishman felt there was room for improvement during the first half against the Steelmen, the Hoops’ second half performance saw them worthy winners – with goals scored on the 40th, 75th and 92nd minute.

“I wanted a response today from the players and I got one,” said Neil Lennon. “I wasn’t overly delighted with the first half, I thought we were a little bit passive and lukewarm. But in the second, I thought we were a lot better and as the game wore on, we got stronger and stronger.

“I’m delighted with the three points and the majority of the performance. It was a good reaction and players are starting to look better – Jullien, Forrest, Ajer are all starting to get into a real match rhythm.

“Albian needs some conditioning work, but you can see what a player he really is with how good he is on the pitch. The two weeks ahead have come at a good time for them and for us, but there are a number of players away on international duty and we hope that they come back from that fit and well.”

The manager said that next weekend’s international break disrupts momentum a little, but likewise acknowledged it allows injured players more time to get back to full fitness.

He added: “We would like to play games. We’ve missed two games out of the programme, which was disruptive. We obviously had a bad result on Wednesday night, but we had a good performance today.

"Some of them take a little bit of time to get going, but I think there was evidence today that they were more like themselves. I like what I saw today for large spells of the game.”

Neil Lennon: I wanted a response against Motherwell and I got one