Celtic boss Neil Lennon has given a positive update on winger Mikey Johnston saying that “he may come in to contention” for Saturday’s Betfred Cup semi-final against Hibernian.
The Northern Irishman also revealed that midfielder Scott Brown could miss the showdown with his former club. Lennon says the skipper is “doubtful” after coming off with 20 minutes from the end of Wednesday’s win over St. Mirren.
The Celtic boss spoke to press on Friday afternoon with the club’s official Twitter feed reporting his quotes.
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While the news of Brown’s absence is obviously a blow, we do have a number of other options who could step in at short notice. Olivier Ntcham is an obvious replacement while Nir Bitton could give us a better defensive balance in Brown’s absence.
The update on Mikey Johnston is particularly pleasing. Earlier on in the week, we told you how he had been called up by Scot Gemmill for the Scotland under-21s fixture against Greece next month.
Johnston hasn’t been seen in a Celtic shirt since the victory over Ibrox in early September. It’s easy to forget how much of an influence he had on the result that day – setting up Odsonne Edouard’s opener with a brilliant incisive pass.
Johnston was a massive player for us at the start of the season. He has his work cut out getting back in the team given Mohamed Elyounoussi’s recent form but it’s a good problem for Lennon to have.
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