Stokes hopes to play his way back into the Celtic starting line-up

Celtic striker Anthony Stokes reckons the team can cope with manager Neil Lennon's expulsion to the stand.

The Celtic boss has served one match of an eight-game ban served on him by the Scottish Football Association for a series of touchline incidents.

"We showed we could cope at the weekend," said the Irish goalscorer.

"We've got Johan (Mjallby) and Thommo (Alan Thompson) doing a great job in the background and they have no bother getting across what the gaffer says."

Lennon began his ban last Saturday when he watched his team beat Hamilton 2-0 from his vantage point in the Celtic main stand.

His four-match ban - cut from six games after an appeal - was his punishment for an incident at Tynecastle in November.

But that was doubled after his altercation with Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist in the Scottish Cup match at Celtic Park, which Celtic won 1-0.

Lennon was given 24-hour protection in the wake of the game against Rangers after a suspicious package addressed to him was intercepted.

Stokes said of his manager: "He's loud enough on the sidelines that you can hear him in most of the games. But Thommo and Johan are the same - I saw them on the phone the other day with the gaffer.

"They'll do the same thing and we'll try to respond to it on the pitch as normal."

Mjallby, speaking at his club's media conference on Friday, was keen to emphasise that Lennon's absence from it was purely down to the manager's desire to ensure the focus was on on-field matters.

"Neil is in a good mood," said the Swede. "He just feels that he has been in the limelight and been the focus of the off-field circumstances so he wants the focus to be on football and the team.

"That is why I am taking the press conference today. I think you will see him back very soon.

"He is a strong character. I think he wants to focus on the team and on the players because, even if he is to be suspended, he is still the main man and that doesn't change the dynamics."

Stokes has struggled for a starting place in recent weeks, with Lennon preferring Gary Hooper and Georgios Samaras as his first-choice pairing.

The former Falkirk and Hibernian player said: "It's been very disappointing but I can't really complain when the team has played so well against Rangers in the last three of four games.

"I have to take it on the chin and get on with it.

"Big Sammy (Samaras) has come in and he has been flying against Rangers this year. When a player comes in and they perform well on the big stage you can't really have any complaints.

"I just have to keep working hard to get back into the team.

"It's a massive week but we are just focusing on Sunday and getting that out the way first. It's a tough place to go to play a very direct team with some very good players in it.

"After beating Rangers in this competition everyone more or less thinks it's over but it is never going to be that easy. You have to give them the same respect that we gave to Rangers in the last round."

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