Lenny: Stevie has knocked me for six

HIBERNIAN manager Neil Lennon has hailed Stevie Mallan’s impressive start at Easter Road after the midfielder scored his sixth goal of the season in Sunday’s dramatic 3-2 Betfred Cup victory over Ross County.

The former St Mirren playmaker has hit the ground running after signing a four-year deal with the Leith outfit earlier this summer following a disappointing spell at Barnsley.

Lennon has been impressed with the 22-year-old’s all round contribution but is particularly delighted with Mallan’s goal scoring form from their opening nine competitive matches of the season.

He said: “Stevie has been tremendous, absolutely tremendous.

“I thought he was great last Thursday night [against Molde] as well and he’s not overawed by anything.

“He’s a fit lad and he has a big heart because you could tell he was tiring against County, but he kept us going, kept the team going.

“He’s got that ability to hit long-range shots from different angles and it was a marvellous goal that got us back in the game.”

Lennon, meanwhile insists the likes of Mallan have earned a welldeserved rest following an exhausting start to the campaign that saw Hibs also play six Europa League matches before being eliminated by Molde at the third qualifying round stage.

Lennon, whose side host Aberdeen in the Premiership this weekend, added: “We’ll hopefully get a bit of work into the new boys this week but the boys who have played all the games are going to have a few days off, get away from football.”