Lennon’s praise for shy bhoy

Neil Lennon is hopeful that yesterday’s goal against Hibs can be the first of many for Temmu Pukki.

The former Schalke man showed a great instinctive strikers touch to squeeze a Joe Ledley cross beyond Ben Williams to score the only goal of a drab afternoon in Paradise.

Pukki scored in his first two Celtic appearances but has looked shot of confidence in recent weeks- rarely threatening to find the net.

“Hopefully it will give him a boost,” Lennon stated. “It was a good striker’s goal, I was really pleased with that.

“He is a shy boy by nature, we just want to eke more of his personality out, on and off the field and scoring goals is a great way of doing that, although I have been pleased with his contribution at times.

“You speak to him and tell him to be himself and interact with the rest of the players but it is difficult to change people’s personalities.

“The boys are a good bunch and try to integrate all the players and you can see more and more of his personality coming out.

“I think he has something to offer and the only way we can get that is by playing him and him gaining confidence from playing with the rest of the players, same with Nir Biton.”

The Israeli put in a more impressive display as he played the holding midfield role with purpose and intelligence.

Biton was rarely caught out of position providing the defensive cover needed when pushing for goals against a side that rarely threatened the Celtic goal.

Celtic finished the match with five players wearing gloves- Efe Ambrose, Virgil van Dijk, Emilio Izaguirre, Biton and Georgios Samaras.