NEIL Lennon has revealed that warning Hibernian not to play like Rangers in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final had helped them beat Celtic on Saturday.

Hibs recorded a 2-1 win over the Scottish champions at Easter Road to prevent their opponents from winning their seventh consecutive Ladbrokes Premiership.

Brendan Rodgers’s team can clinch the title if they defeat Graeme Murty’s side in the final Glasgow derby of the 2017/18 campaign at Parkhead on Sunday.

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Lennon, whose team is bidding to finish second in the top flight for the first time since 1975, told his players to avoid making the same mistakes as their Rangers counterparts in their 4-0 defeat at Hampden six days earlier.

“I am not going to criticise other teams,” he said. “But it was something that was a feature of our preparation put it that way.

“When you play Celtic you can’t stand off them. If you mark space you are knackered. You have to mark men, especially against these guys. If you drop off they change runs and they will cut you to ribbons.

“We asked them to go man for man. We even left (Efe) Ambrose at times with (Leigh) Griffiths one v one. We gambled a little bit there. And it worked. On another day someone could slip and they are in. But we wanted to be positive.

“Having looked at the game in December we were far too passive and let Celtic dominate the ball for far too long and we didn’t want to let that happen again.”

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Meanwhile, Lennon has admitted he is hopeful Dylan McGeouch has booked his place in the Scotland squad for the end-of-season games against Peru and Mexico with his Man of the Match-winning display against Celtic.

The Hibs midfielder was forced to pull out of the national squad for the games against Costa Rica and Hungary last month with injury.

“He has got over the disappointment,” said Lennon. “The timing of the injury was horrendous for him. But to be fair to Alex McLeish, Dylan turned up to be assessed.

“Alex didn’t want to take a chance with him, but he assured him that he will still monitor him, and hopefully he will be on the trip to South America, which will be great.

“The way he is playing it’s not affected him, and it could have done because it was a big thing in his life and important for him. He has kicked on again and played well.

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“I think the fans given him player of the year which is thoroughly deserved, but he will be the first to say he is playing with some good players in there.”

Lennon, who rated the weekend win alongside the Champions League victory over Barcelona that he recorded at Celtic in 2012 and the triumph against Rangers at Ibrox in February, hinted he may struggle to maintain the level of success Hibs are currently enjoying.

McGeouch is out of contract in the summer and Scotland midfielder McGinn, who has a year left on his current deal, is sure to be targeted in the close season.

“If, and it is still a big if, we finish second how can we top that?” he said. “I think Rangers will be strong next year because they have a bit of clout behind them and they may or may not bring in a new manager. So this may be as good as it gets for us for the short term anyway but we will see.

“It’s going to be an interesting summer. McGeouch is out of contract and John has under a year a left, so they are immediate concerns.

“There’s obviously also recruitment, we are looking in certain areas trying to improve the squad. I will not have an idea where we are until the season’s finished and if we can get a European place – and that is still a big if. That may dictate how much money we can spend.

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“I don’t have issues with the board. There is a realism to what we are doing here. We are not going to overstretch. We will do what we always do which is work with a lot of common sense and good recruitment. The club is in a good place.”

But Lennon admitted that finishing second in the Premiership – which is worth nearly £500,000 more to Hibs than coming fourth – would help him to strengthen.

“That would be handy,” he said. “We have given ourselves a real shot in the arm. But there are still four really hard games to go.”