Neil Lennon has admitted that he always knew that Scott Brown would be fit enough to start the Betfred Cup semi-final against Hibs.
The hoops skipper was substituted by Olivier Ntcham with 20 minutes left in the midweek win over St Mirren which caused some initial concern.
At Hampden the following day Brown put the nerves of the Celtic support at ease when he declared himself fit but on Friday his condition was described as doubtful by his manager.
When the two teams were announced at 4.15 yesterday Brown was in his usual place, by the time the final whistle blew he was chasing an unlikely Hampden hat-trick!
40 seconds in Lennon struggled to hold back his smile when he said ‘the captain, I’m so glad that he played today, outstanding’ but when pressed into how close Brown was to missing the match Lennon had to confess.
Nah, he wasn’t close at all. I was just playing a wee bit of media yesterday (Friday). He did a fitness test on Friday and came through it no problem and there was no way that I was going to leave him out with the way that he’s been playing. We’ll see how he is for Thursday but he should be fine.
The cup final will be a Glasgow derby as Celtic attempt to win the trophy for the fourth season running.
