Lennon out for revenge in League Cup

30 October 2012 03:29

Celtic manager Neil Lennon wants his side to take revenge out on St Johnstone when the sides meet in the Scottish League Cup on Tuesday.

The Saints beat the SPL champions last month in a league clash and Lennon is also demanding a response from his players after their defeat to Kilmarnock at the weekend.

"There will be a bit of revenge in the air," Lennon told reporters. "I'm sure the players will be very motivated. I'm looking for a really good reaction and I'm sure I'll get that.

"I'm not going to give my team away but it's fair to say it will be a pretty strong team.

"It's a quarter-final, off the back of a disappointing performance and result, and it's important we bounce back in the right way.

"They know how important the shirt is, they know how important it is to play for the club. They didn't do themselves justice on Saturday and it's not often I can cast that aspersion on the players. That's gone and we move on."

The Ulsterman also refused to use the heartbreaking defeat against Barcelona as any excuse for their shock defeat to Kilmarnock, and insisted the team are going to ensure complacency doesn't creep into their play again.

"That's an easy way out. Our priority is the league," he added.

"We had quite a proud home record for over a year, which is gone now, so we've got to start that all over again.

"Domestically, we want to put as much distance between ourselves and everyone else as possible, as quickly as possible. We had a bad day and I'll make sure that doesn't happen again."