NEIL LENNON has put himself into the zone.

The daily checks to see if progress has been made on any of his signing targets have ceased.

The focus is now on only one thing - getting over the line and into the Champions League group stage.

If they can avoid stumbling in their play-off ties against Shakhter Karagandy, there will still be time to get new faces into Parkhead before the window closes.

Better still, his budget will have taken a massive leap, and players who might until then have been swithering about moving to the SPFL Premiership will then have the prospect of playing at least six Champions League matches, making Celtic Park a much more attractive destination.

All of that is for the future, the consequences and benefits of getting it right against Shakhter.

Which is why Lennon has no problem applying the blinkers for tonight's first-leg tie in the Astana Arena. It's a crunch 90 minutes, and he is ready for it.

"The play-off games are a minefield," said Lennon as the hours ticked down until the tie explodes into life. "They come so early, and it's a horrible period for myself. So you just do what you can to prepare.

"We've worked long hours for the past five or six weeks and we know what to do now."

Playing, once again, on an artificial surface is out of their control, and remains a concern. But nothing else has been left to fate.

The players have been prepared like never before, and with injured stars such as Anthony Stokes, Derk Boerrigter and Virgil van Dijk back in contention, there is serious room for manoeuvring within the squad.

Lennon trusts the men he has at his disposal, but warns that every European tie is different, and only when they cross the line will they know what is going to happen next.

On this occasion, that something different happened yesterday when Shakhter slaughtered a sheep in the stadium as part of their good luck preparations.

Lennon was diplomatic when asked about the incident, sitting just a few yards from where the animal met its gory end.

"You have to respect that," he said. "This is a different culture. Players have their own superstitions. We have a very diverse group of players. They come from different parts of the world, different religions, and we respect that.

"They have their own individual way of preparing for a game. The only thing we do collectively is the very famous huddle before a game."

That's not the only major difference between Celtic and Euro novices Shakhter.

Lennon pointed out: "We have more experience than Shakhter. But they are at home, where they have an excellent record.

"Already in this campaign they have knocked out BATE Borisov, who were in the Champions League themselves last season and beat Bayern Munich at home.

"It is going to be a very difficult time and we have tried to get as much information on them as we can.

"They play a different style to what we are used to, and it is a different culture of football, one which we will have to adapt to very, very quickly."

The manager would have liked to strengthen ahead of these games, but believes in the players who have carried them this far.

"The players have earned our trust, to a certain extent, but every game is different," he cautioned.

"I don't think this is going to be an open, passing, fluid game of football. It's going to be attritional at times, and maybe as tight as the Elfsborg game. So we have to prepare for all eventualities."

Lennon is content to rely on the men he has moulded into an efficient unit which has yet to concede in their qualifying campaign this time around.

It has often been a struggle, even when it should not have been, but they have got here nonetheless.

"They have learned to win ugly," is Lennon's assessment. "They have ground out a few results along the way, and it might be a case of having to do that again until we get them back to Celtic Park where it will suit us being at home and we can make the game a little bit more expansive."

HE ADDED: "I quite like the camaraderie between the players, and the new boys have settled in very well. Obviously, we have lost some hugely-influential players in Wanyama, Hooper and Wilson.

"But we feel we have acquired some very good players. They are taking their time to bed in but we are very happy with how things are going."

It's the first time a Scottish club will have played in Kazakhstan. But Lennon and his Hoops team-mates came very close to becoming trailblazers back in 2005.

For the second qualifying round of the Champions League, they were drawn to play the winners of Almaty from Kazakhstan and a Slovakian bunch - Artmedia Bratislava.

Everyone at Parkhead, including new boss Gordon Strachan, was celebrating when the long haul to Almaty was avoided as Artmedia prevailed.

And we all know what happened next. Lennon played in the 5-0 hammering in Bratislava.

He can smile as he recalls that now, and his sense of humour was evident when a local journalist pointed out that Shakhter coach, Viktor Kumykov, was prepared to give up smoking if his team got through to the groups.

Asked what he would give up if the Hoops emerge triumphant, Lennon said: "Well, I don't smoke.

"I'd like to say I would give up alcohol, but that would be a very difficult thing for me to do, especially in Glasgow."