Brown was sent off late in the game by referee Stephen Finnie

Celtic manager Neil Lennon was pleased to gain the "psychological" advantage of being top of the league ahead of Sunday's Old Firm match.

A 1-0 win over Motherwell sent Celtic above Rangers, who have two games in hand going into the Glasgow derby.

"I know Rangers have got two games in hand, but I'm delighted that we're psychologically top of the league for however long it is," said Lennon.

"It'll give the players a lift going into Sunday."

However, Lennon will be without his captain, Scott Brown, against Rangers after the midfielder was sent off for two bookable offences against Motherwell, the second yellow brandished for a challenge on Steven Hammell.

We're back to keeping clean sheets and winning games and I'm delighted Neil Lennon

"He has done all he can to pull out of it and he's slipped as well," Lennon told BBC Scotland.

"Hammell's actually kicked Scott, so how he makes that a yellow card and a sending off I don't know.

"But I'm not going to talk about referees. Everyone saw his performance tonight, so they can make of it what they will."

Brown's suspension is a further blow for Lennon with Olivier Kapo and Daryl Murphy picking up knocks during the victory over Motherwell and Shaun Maloney, Gary Hooper, Cha Du-Ri and Ki Sung-Yeung missing for Sunday's clash at Ibrox.

"The substitutions have disrupted us, we had to change the shape of the team," said Lennon.

"We've got a few casualties and obviously the sending off's not pleasing either.

"Kapo looks like he's tweaked his hamstring and Murph, when he came down from a header, has jolted his Achilles. It'll have to be scanned tomorrow and it could be a tear."

Lennon is hopeful of having striker Georgios Samaras back in his squad for Sunday's derby, a match Celtic go into top of the Scottish Premier League with a one-point lead.

"We've got Birim Kayal back, which is a bonus for us, and we'll just have to see how the rest of them are," he said.

"I thought we started the game very well. We should've been home and hosed at half-time.

"There were some good performances. Brown was magnificent, so we'll really miss him and Paddy McCourt again was tremendous, a real matchwinner.

"That's two games in a row where he's played and made a huge difference to us. So, there's a lot to be positive about.

"We're back to keeping clean sheets and winning games and I'm delighted. It's a big three points for us."

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