O'Neill defends team selection

O'Neill was full of praise for his side despite seeing them slip to a 3-2 defeat at Ibrox, a reverse which cost Celtic the lead in the Scottish Premier League.

But when asked why he had not started with midfielder Lambert, he went on the offensive.

"I have been picking the team now for two-and-a-half years and I honestly think that is a ridiculous question for you to ask me," O'Neill told BBC Scotland.

"I don't see anybody else here in Scotland being asked who they should pick and who they shouldn't pick.

"My record is reasonably all right to say I have picked teams and they have won matches.

" We were astonishingly brilliant in the game "
Martin O'Neill

"At the end of the day, I have picked the side and I could not fault one of my players there.

"It is a side which, funnily enough, was good enough to go down to Blackburn and win.

"Stefan Klos was named man of the match. Tell me what difference someone else in the team would have made in the team."