Lennon was delighted with Anthony Stokes and Gary Hooper

Celtic manager Neil Lennon refused to rule Hearts out of the title race despite hailing his side's 4-0 win over the third-top side as "brilliant".

"I am not getting carried away," he told BBC Scotland.

"It was not a six-pointer, but a lot of people were asking a lot of questions about us and Hearts - and the players have answered that.

"There is a huge gap between us and Hearts, but there's a lot of football to be played yet."

Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic are now 10 points ahead of the Edinburgh side, whose 11-game unbeaten run was brought to a halt in Glasgow.

And Lennon thought the performance was even better than the 9-0 humiliation of Aberdeen earlier in the season.

"In terms of all-round performance, it was far better than the Aberdeen performance even though we did score that many goals," he said.

Sammy has made no intimation to me that he is leaving and he is not going anywhere Celtic manager Neil Lennon

"Out intensity and approach to the game was excellent and we got a grip of the midfield very quickly.

"It has been a good night and another clean sheet. We have won well and three points were vital."

Lennon picked out the midfield influence of captain Scott Brown and Charlie Mulgrew, the left-back playing as a stand-in at the heart of the defence, for particular praise.

"I thought we were brilliant from start to finish," he said. "There were some big performances out there and they did everything I asked of them.

"I told them at half time, instead of winning the game 1-0, can you win it two or three nil? And they answered a lot of questions again.

"I thought Brown, from start to finish, was awesome and Charlie Mulgrew at centre-half was impeccable and gave us a platform to go and play.

"And the two front men did what they do. They caused Hearts all sorts of problems all night."

Anthony Stokes scored twice, the first a stunning free-kick, as he and strike partner Gary Hooper gave Hearts' defence a torrid time.

"I was shouting for Charlie Mulgrew to take the free-kick, but Stokesy is full of confidence at the minute and it was a wonderful goal," said Lennon.

"He has become a very important player for us in the last month or so."

James Forrest marked his return from suspension with a thumping early opening goal.

However, he pulled up after 24 minutes with a hamstring injury similar to those that have recently ruled out Daniel Majstorovic and Georgios Samaras.

"The only down side is we have lost Forrest for I don't know how long, but the kid showed again what an impact player he can be," said Lennon.

"It is becoming a recurring trend and we don't know why. That's three, with Daniel and Sammy, not at the start or end of games but about 30 minutes in."

Meanwhile, prior to kick-off, Lennon laughed off a message on the Twitter social network from someone claiming to be Samaras and saying his goodbyes to the Celtic support.

The Celtic manager insisted that the message had not been from the Greek striker himself before adding: "He has made no intimation to me that he is leaving and he is not going anywhere."

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