Lennon demands 'professional pride' from Celtic squad

Neil Lennon appealed to Celtic players’ professional pride ahead of the trip to Kilmarnock on Tuesday night.

The Northern Irishman described Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by St Mirren at Parkhead as the “lowest” point of his two spells as Hoops boss.

The reigning champions have one win in six and are 23 points behind Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers, having played two games fewer, and with the aim of a 10th successive title looking to be over.

The former Celtic captain insists his players can do better.

He said: “You’ve got to have your professional pride so I am hoping for a reaction tomorrow evening.

“To lose games is bitterly disappointing, and off the back of a really good performance last Wednesday (against Hamilton) we failed to show consistency of performance again.

“They have it in them, there is plenty of evidence of that, they just need to find a rhythm of playing well and winning games.

“You express disappointment at the level of performance and players have to look at themselves and say, ‘can I play better, can I get myself in better condition, can I do more for the team, can I do more for the club, can I do more for the manager?’ And the answer is yes.

“Regardless of whether they respond to me or not, they have their own personal responsibility and pride in their performances as individuals and as a collective.

“The bottom line is the players can play better. I have a lot of faith in them.

“I was really disappointed in them at the weekend, there is no point in hiding away from that.

“It is simply not up to the standards we ask of them or we believe they can produce.

“So the result and performance was really disappointing and I don’t think the players would disagree with that either.”