| Neil Lennon is keen to avoid Inverness adding another version of Celtic's scalp totheir belt tonight. In February 2000, Inverness effectivly ended John Barnes time as manager when they won 3-1 at Parkhead and in March 2003, Lennon was in the Celtic team which lost 1-0 at Inverness in the same competition. And ahead of their home Co-operative Insurance Cup third-round tie against Terry Butcher's side, lennon plans to field a strong starting side to try to avoid any prospect of a repeat. He said: "Obviously they have history with us, they had a great result 10 years ago and they turned us over in 2003. It's obviously a different set of circumstances with a different set of players but Inverness will come and have a go. I am just pleased it's a home tie. I won't be diluting the team too much, I will be putting out a pretty strong team. There's a few carrying bumps and bruises and some players need some game time but that's not taking Inverness lightly, the players coming in are quality players and we will have a strong team." Lennon enjoys being involved in the much-maligned cup competition and insists it is even more important in the absence of any more European football this season. The Irishman said: "The Co-operative Insurance Cup has been good to me. It was my first trophy I won as a Celtic player and my first as the captain. All the competitions are important for us. Now we are out of Europe it has become more prominent in our thoughts and it's one that we would like to win. It is part of the treble and that doesn't happen very often. I was fortunate enough to win one in my first season but it takes a lot. We are talking well ahead of ourselves here. I have been on the end of a few upsets over the years and it's not nice and I don't want that to happen so early in the season. We have to have the right approach, the right attitude and do the basics well and hopefully the quality will come through eventually. We are in a good frame of mind and we are looking forward to it." Scott Brown and James Forrest are out with ankle injuries, while Paddy McCourt is also absent and will have a scan on the shoulder injury picked up in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League win at Kilmarnock on Sunday. Lennon said: "It is frustrating for him and for us. He has actually popped his other shoulder twice. I don't know what he was doing then but he popped it out against Kilmarnock and it popped back in. We are hoping it won't be too long-term." Inverness manager Terry Butcher is facing a selection headache in defence after Chris Innes joined Kenny Gillet and Kevin McCann on the sidelines. Innes suffered a hamstring injury during Saturday's 3-1 defeat by Hearts and could be out for several weeks. Gillet had already been ruled out for up to a month with a knee injury while fellow full-back Kevin McCann remains out with a groin problem. Butcher has just four experienced defenders in Ross Tokely, Grant Munro, David Proctor and Stuart Golabek, although former Aberdeen midfielder Stuart Duff has ample experience of playing in defence. Butcher said: "We're going to have to go with what we've got. However, the players we do have in defence are all experienced and will be relishing facing Celtic. We'll go there knowing that we have to be strong and solid in defence, but I think it's a great game for us and one we should be really looking forward to. I certainly don't think it's a game we should be worried about." |