Soccer:Celtic tonight stated they did not challenge the ban imposed on manager Neil Lennon in the aftermath of his clash with Rangers assistant boss Ally McCoist to take into consideration "the wider interests of the club and Scottish football".

Rangers this afternoon did submit an appeal against the two-match touchline ban received by McCoist following his touchline altercation with Lennon in the volatile Scottish Cup tie against Celtic on March 2nd.

But the Scottish Football Association’s 5pm deadline passed without Celtic lodging an appeal.

Ahead of this evening’s Scottish Cup quarter-final at Inverness, Celtic issued a statement on their official website, www.celticfc.net, which read: “Celtic confirms that Neil Lennon has not challenged the imposition of an automatic four match suspension arising from the Celtic v Rangers match on March 2nd.

“Neil and the club have decided, in the wider interests of the club and Scottish football, not to appeal against the imposition of the ban, or the reasons for it.”

The Celtic boss is already serving a four-match ban following his dismissal to the stand and subsequent reaction during a 2-0 defeat by Hearts in November and he must sit in the stand for this Sunday’s League Cup final with Rangers.

The Celtic manager was handed double the punishment of McCoist given it was his second offence in the relevant period.