Lennon unhappy at media coverage

SCOTTISH FA CUP QUARTER FINAL Dundee Utd 0 Celtic 4: NEIL LENNON continued his general media ban after Celtic cruised into the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup with a 4-0 win against 10-man Dundee United at Tannadice.

Second-half goals from Joe Ledley, Georgios Samaras, Anthony Stokes and Scott Brown eased Celtic home following the departure of Dundee United defender Robbie Neilson. Previously booked for a foul on Samaras, he was shown a straight red in the 28th minute for leading with an elbow in an aerial tussle with the Greece striker.

The game turned on that incident and in a one-sided second half the home side were put to the sword. Ledley, Samaras and Stokes racked up an unbeatable lead before Hoops skipper Brown scored from the spot a minute from time after Samaras had been tripped by Sean Dillon in the United box.

Lennon had cancelled the pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Tayside, but before the game, when speaking to BBC Scotland, he claimed the club had been accused of trying to profit from administration-hit Rangers’ financial worries.

The Irishman did not specify which reports had upset him but said the Parkhead club are considering legal action and hinted at a media ban for the rest of the season.

“We decided not to hold a press conference this week because of all the nonsense going on elsewhere,” he said.

“People accusing our club of trying to put people out of work at Rangers.

“It’s in the hands of our legal team and it’s probably best not to talk about it.

“(We want to) get our heads down and we want to talk about football. A lot of media outlets will be disappointed because we won’t be speaking to them. We’ll do our speaking through the club.

“I’m angry but I’ll deal with it in my own way.”

Ledley was put before the media after the match and he admitted that Neilson’s dismissal, deserved as it was, made the difference. “It was a definite sending off. He has led with his elbow and caught Georgios on the nose, even the player knew himself it was a sending off and so the referee got it right.

In the other quarter-finals, Aberdeen won 2-1 away to Motherwell, Roy O’Donovan scored for Hibernian as they beat Ayr 2-0 and Hearts drew 2-2 with St Mirren.