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Neil Lennon's anxious wait over Thomas Rogne

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Thomas Rogne Celtic newsNeil Lennon will find out tomorrow the extent of Thomas Rogne’s calf injury.

The defender was replaced by Efrain Juarez in the 62nd minute of Celtic’s 4-1 win over Aberdeen at Hampden today.

Daniel Majstorovic’s injury has focussed attention on the centre of Celtic’s defence with just over two days left in the transfer window.

With Jos Hooiveld, Darren O’Dea and Josh Thompson all out on loan the hoops boss is in urgent need of a defender capable of stepping straight into action.

“He was feeling his calf,” Lennon explained after the match about the Rogne substitution. “He may have a calf strain so we’ll see how he is tomorrow.

“The club have been pretty diligent in trying to get a centre-half in. That will just reinforce their efforts to get one in who we have identified. We hope we can cross the line.”

Asked if he was optimistic about bringing in a new defender the Celtic boss said: “I’m not, there are no guarantees about anything at this stage of the season.

“Clubs want to hang on to their players because they are either going for promotion or trying to avoid relegation or win trophies, so it’s difficult”

Kelvin Wilson of Nottingham Forest has signed a pre-contract agreement to join Celtic in the summer but so far Billy Davies has refused to do business with Celtic.

Forest are believed to be looking for £600,000 for the defender with Celtic offering around half of that figure.

“We might go again but Nottingham Forest have been pretty firm so far in that respect and I can understand that, they are going very well in the Championship,” Lennon admitted.

On the pitch the Celtic boss was delighted by his side’s first half performance which put them four goals up at the interval.

New bhoy Kris Commons made an instant impact with a brilliant chipped effort six minutes into his debut.

Defenders Charlie Mulgrew and Rogne added to the lead with Anthony Stokes converting a penalty to the delight of the Celtic support- and management- in the 38,000 crowd.

“I’m thrilled by the performance,” Lennon said. “It means a lot to me and obviously it means a lot to the club and I know what it means to the players.

“The performance in the first half was the best I have seen from a Celtic team at Hampden in my time. They were exceptional.

“It was very hard to replicate that in the second half. The tempo in the first half was fantastic, they followed on from Wednesday night (beating Hearts 4-0), and if they keep that up they are going to be very difficult to stop.”

Celtic face Aberdeen at Pittodrie on SPL business on Tuesday before playing Rangers at Ibrox in the Scottish Cup next Sunday.

The Green Brigade come of age

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