The eight women and seven men broke off their deliberations at Glasgow Sheriff Court after an hour and a half and will resume tomorrow.

Jeffrey Carrigan, 43, and David Whitelaw, 47, of Knightswood, Glasgow, deny assaulting Lennon aggravated by religious prejudice.

Lennon, now a coach at Celtic, needed hospital treatment after the attack in the early hours of September 1.

He had been out in the west end of Glasgow following his side's Old Firm derby defeat.

Carrigan and Whitelaw do not deny getting into a fight with Lennon, but claim he was the initial aggressor.

They told the court the football coach started the fight after Carrigan asked him if he enjoyed the day's game.

Carrigan told the court Lennon had "foam coming from his mouth" as he charged at him.

And Whitelaw said the football coach appeared to have "lost the plot" as he attacked his friend.

Whitelaw admitted punching Lennon but has entered a special defence of self-defence. He claims he was protecting his friend from the football coach.

Lennon, giving evidence in the case, said the only thing he remembered was waking up in the west end.

Addressing the jurors today, Sheriff Martin Jones told them there was enough evidence to convict the accused of the full charge.

In his closing speech earlier, prosecutor Mark Allan urged the jury to convict the men of the charge they face, saying: "I'm inviting you to find both accused guilty of that charge.

"I am inviting you to do so on the basis of the evidence that is being presented to you and should leave you in no doubt that on September 1 2008 in Ashton Lane in Glasgow, Neil Francis Lennon was the victim of a vicious and cowardly assault by David Whitelaw and Jeffrey Carrigan."

Allan said Carrigan and Whitelaw "acted together in the assault upon Neil Lennon in the course of which he was repeatedly punched on the head, caused to fall to the ground, repeatedly kicked and stamped upon his head and his body, causing him to lose consciousness to his severe injury and all aggravated by religious prejudice".

He said the assault was "an attack from the outset", rejecting the men's claims that Lennon was the main aggressor and their actions were defensive.

Carrigan had repeatedly kicked the football coach in the head, Allan said, which was "out of all proportion with what went before".

The prosecutor strongly rejected the men's claim that Lennon had been the main aggressor in the violence.

Allan told the jury that Whitelaw's punch was "not a defensive action" and "not for protection".

"What followed was attack, not defence - it was retaliation for what was said," he said.

He also rubbished Carrigan's claim to be a victim as "nonsense".

Allan said a string of witnesses who claimed to have seen Lennon being repeatedly kicked as he lay on the ground could not be wrong.

Although there were discrepancies between the testimonies of the witnesses, he invited the jurors to the see the "bigger picture" - of a violent attack on Lennon.

He told them: "If you accept their evidence, my submission to you is that you should be led to the irresistible conclusion that David Whitelaw and Jeffrey Carrigan are guilty."

David Phinn, representing Whitelaw, suggested Lennon had over-reacted to teasing about the day's football, something all too common in Glasgow.

He said it was city where there was a "passion for football".

"It has an importance in some people's lives in some instances that borders on the ridiculous," he went on.

"The outcome of a game of football between Celtic and Rangers in this city drastically affects the mood for worse of the team who loses and for the better for the team who wins.

"What that causes in this city is endless opportunities for banter, irritation, for wind-ups, for noise-ups.

"Very childish, I'm afraid, ladies and gentleman, but, I am afraid, all too common in this city."

Referring to comments made to Lennon before the attack, Phinn went on: "Mr Lennon, regrettably, appears to have risen to that bait by showing his middle finger to the individual who had said this to him.

"You may have little difficulty in concluding that Mr Lennon did not help himself in seeking out a further confrontation with these individuals."

He also said the differing accounts presented by witnesses meant their evidence was "just not reliable enough to return a conviction".

He asked the jury to clear Whitelaw of the charge.

Liam Robertson, representing Carrigan, asked the jury to acquit his client of assault due to religious prejudice, but invited them to find him guilty of delivering a kick under provocation.