Celtic manager Neil Lennon admits he tried to fool us on Scott Brown

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Scott Brown’s availability against Hibs appeared to be touch-and-go right up to kick-off last night.

However, that was just simply what we were all made to believe. It was all just part of Neil Lennon’s mind-games heading into the must-win clash against Paul Heckingbottom’s men.

Brown had previously come out and said that he was fit and ready to play (Celtic TV). On Friday, Lenny dismissed that claim and said he was a serious doubt for the contest (Celtic TV).

The Celtic captain ended up playing 90 minutes and scored a fine brace in the 5-2 rout. And, speaking to Celtic TV post-match, Lenny confirmed that Brown had been deemed available on Friday.

“Nah he wasn’t close at all (to missing the game). I was just playing to the media a wee bit. He did a fitness test on Friday and came through it no problem. There was no way we were going to leave him out.

“We’ll see how he is for Thursday but he should be fine.”

The gaffer had everyone fooled

It was an unusual tactic for Lenny to pull ahead of the game. It’s not something he’s ever been known for throughout his managerial career. However, he showed he isn’t allergic to dishing out some mind games of his own.

It also clears up the confusion as to why there were such mixed messages heading into the game from both the player and the manager. Broony obviously never got the message about the mind-games!

He would go on to play a starring role. If you were to watch him without knowing he came through a fitness test, you wouldn’t have known he was carrying anything.

Hibs just had no answer to Celtic’s dominance, which came mostly from Brown’s energy and aggression. He managed to keep the always dangerous Scott Allan quiet for large spells – no mean feat.

And it’s a huge boost that he’ll be able to play on Thursday too. Without him in there against Lazio in Italy, we could’ve been in real bother. The Italians have a host of quality, but Brown gives us some solidity in the midfield to try and halt their attacks.

He’ll come into it in fine form after his brace yesterday. However, will Lenny continue to use those kinds of mind-games as the season goes on? Yesterday proved he’s willing to do so.