FOLLOWING tonight’s (Thursday) impressive 1-0 UEFA Europa League play-off win over FK Sarajevo, Celtic manager Neil Lennon praised his players’ determination in what he described as a thoroughly deserved victory.

The win sees the Hoops go into tomorrow’s draw for the competition’s group stage, and the Irishman reckons the club now has even more to look forward to in the season ahead.

“We were fantastic and we thoroughly deserved to win,” said Neil Lennon in an exclusive interview with Celtic TV. “I’m so happy – happy for the players and happy for the club. The source of frustration is going out of the Champions League, and there’s no question that there’s been a hangover from that, but since then we’ve won seven in a row.

“This is another great performance and another clean sheet. The players were superb on a very difficult pitch and their attitude was magnificent. It opens up the season for us, and we’ve got a lot to look forward to now.”

The manager praised the physicality of Celtic’s game in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and reckoned their dominance deserved more than its single-goal margin. Still, Odsonne Edouard’s 70th-minute strike made the difference in what was a convincing night’s work.

Neil Lennon added: “We had to be physically strong. I thought we were lacking in aggression in our play in the first half, given we had a lot of the ball – but I think we were much better in the second half and the game really opened up and went our way.

“I thought we were comfortable at the back, I thought we were strong and Hatem did well coming in for Nir so early. It’s the sum of all parts. The squad is working for us, and you can the players are coming into top form now. It’s a big night for us, it’s another group stage for us to look forward to and hopefully we get a good draw and can make in-roads in this competition.”

The only downside of the night was Nir Bitton’s early injury, which saw him replaced by fellow countryman Hatem Elhamed.

“Nir has been superb for us,” the manager continued. “He’s rolled his ankle, he’s twisted it. It’s a bad one, so he’ll not be available for the weekend or the internationals by the looks of things, so we’ll have to wait and see. It’s another blow to us because he was in brilliant form.”

Manager: Brilliant win gives us group-stage football again