Lennon livid as ‘goal’ is missed in derby
NEIL LENNON last night called the decision that denied his Hibernian side a derby victory a ‘disgrace’ after seeing an Oli Shaw strike incorrectly ruled out at Tynecastle. Referee Steven McLean and assistant Sean Carr both failed to see Shaw’s early strike going in off the underside of the bar during the 0-0 draw with Hearts. And the livid Hibs manager also claimed that a refusal to embrace technology was
making a ‘mockery’ of Scottish football. ‘This is a huge game,’ said Lennon. ‘It’s live on TV. And it’s making a mockery of the game.
‘It’s a goal. It’s well over the line. It’s a goal, everyone could see it. You could tell by way it came out of the goal.
‘It was a disgrace. It was daylight over the line. How he didn’t see that was beyond me.
‘This is a big game. There’s a lot riding on it for the pride of the city and the three points on offer. We should be walking away here with three points.
‘It’s well over the line. Everyone in my dugout can see and I think half the crowd knew it, as well.
‘I agree that the referee cannot guess but the linesman should see that as a clear goal. It’s a big, big decision that went against us again. We had the handball against Rangers and again tonight. That’s costing us important points.
‘We were by far the better team on a difficult pitch. So it’s great for my players. But I should be sitting here talking about a great win.’
Lennon, who was spoken to by McLean over his protests, added: ‘He’s got to get it right. It’s a goal. A goal is a goal. I know we’re all about a video ref. Sky are here, the fourth official only needs to check and see it’s a goal.
‘He (the referee) said he couldn’t get a good view of it — and the linesman didn’t see it. The linesman saw every offside in the first half. He didn’t get the important one.
‘These could cost us at the end of the season. We should be celebrating a big win. All the odds were against us, we were hearing all about what would happen to us here. It’s a hard one to take.
‘No, he didn’t acknowledge that he got it wrong. Because he didn’t know whether he’d got it wrong at the time.
‘I knew at the time it was a goal. Thirty seconds later, our boys are going nuts in the dugout because the guys behind are telling them it’s not even close.
‘I’m really pleased — really pleased! — with the players because that was attritional.’
Lennon, who marched over to the away end to commiserate with the 3,000-plus traveling fans, throwing his hat to a youngster behind the goal, said he couldn’t fault his players.
‘It is an awful pitch, not conducive to good football,’ he said. ‘But we put in a very good performance. Celtic, the best team in the country, came here and were well beaten. We studied that and did everything right.
‘If we had scored the first goal, 70 per cent of the time, you win.
‘It changes the psychology, quietens the crowd. It would give us something to hold on to. But it became a bit fraught.
‘John McGinn was great, the back four were great. As a team they stood up to physicality of Hearts.
‘So we’ve got a few bumps and bruises. But our goalkeeper didn’t have a save to make.’
Hearts boss Craig Levein confessed that his team had been spared by the flag, smiling as he said: ‘I think maybe it was a centimetre over the line!
‘Jon McLaughlin said to me he thought it was in. We’ve had a lot of things go against us in recent times so we’ll take that one.
‘And we missed a sitter in the second half. I think 1-0 would have won it. I think we had two handball situations, penalty shouts. I was too far away to say whether the hand was away from the body or not.
‘The game was one where both teams set out to be competitive and fight. That filled their heads full of that stuff — and we forgot about the football. That happens.
‘We were better in the second half, still defended well but passed the ball better. We’re unbeaten for eight in a row. Another 62 and we get Celtic’s record!’