David Turnbull has been credited by the Glasgow Times as being an important cog in the Celtic midfield, but the 21-year-old says Neil Lennon is to thank for his recent good form.

The former Motherwell man has scored four goals and supplied three assists in 16 appearances across the board for the Hoops, but he wasn’t commanding a regular starting place before December (Transfermarkt).

The Scotland under-21 international started just once in the Premiership for his current club prior to this month but has been in the starting line-up for the last three matches, setting up a goal against Kilmarnock before finding the net against Ross County and Hamilton (Transfermarkt).

In quotes published by the Glasgow Times, the 21-year-old gave thanks to Lennon for showing faith in him and bringing him into the line-up, saying:

He’s been brilliant with me. When I wasn’t playing, he was always talking to me, telling me to bide my time and assuring me that my chance would come.

He was right, he showed faith in me by putting me in and I really hope I’ve repaid that. I want to continue to do that and I’m grateful to him for putting me in.

I had shown what I could do at Motherwell and started a lot of games there. When I came here I just tried to show it in training as much as I could too.

So, I’m sure he knew it wasn’t a gamble or a brave decision to put me in, and I always believed I could make an impact.

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Celtic are still 16 points adrift of Rangers in the Premiership but have won four of their last five matches in all competitions and also completed the quadruple treble in that time with the Scottish Cup final shootout triumph over Hearts.

It doesn’t seem coincidental that their resurgent form has come at a time when Turnbull has been given a run of starts, with Lennon rightly (if a little belatedly) giving the 21-year-old a proper chance to prove his worth at Parkhead.