Slight of hands

Lenny takes penalty call personally after making up with Ton rival Duffy

It started with a hug and handshake but finished with more animosity over the two hands that cost Hibs their win.

Neil Lennon might have made his peace with Morton boss Jim Duffy but he was soon back on the warpath as the fires of injustice burned as hot as the sun blazing down on Cappielow yesterday.

In the bigger picture there’s no harm done and his Hibees could sew up the Championship title as early as next Saturday if results go their way.

A win at home to Queen of the South coupled with Morton and Falkirk dropping points would secure their long awaited return to the top flight – and clear their minds to focus fully on the small matter of a Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen the following weekend. But such glass-is-half-full talk was far from Lennon’s mind yesterday.

So much so that when ref Bobby Madden blew his whistle to call time on this stalemate, Lennon strode on to the pitch and blanked a gracious handshake from Ton midfielder Andy Murdoch as he made a bee-line for the officials.

On his way back he ignored another attempted gesture of goodwill – this time from goalkeeping coach David Wylie.

Watching from afar it was pure theatre, terrific to take in and a big reason why Lennon has always been and always will be one of the most compelling characters ever to light up Scottish football.

Yesterday afternoon, amid the rage of the penalty snub that incensed him so, there were some cracking moments when he appeared to be playing up to the pantomime villain role.

The infamous spat with Duffy and half the Morton squad who had invaded his technical area a week-and-a-half before was water under the bridge (finally) but the Ton support weren’t for forgiving and forgetting so easily.

But with every insulting chant calling him every name under the sun, he played to the gallery in his inimitably defiant way.

However, by the end of the game his sense of humour had evaporated. Madden had seen to that with the controversial 27th-minute call that ultimately proved pivotal in a game that Hibs really should have put to bed, dodgy decision or not.

There was no debate that Martin Boyle’s sizzling surprise volley had clattered the outstretched arms of full- back Mark Russell – but where the argument rages is whether it should have been punished.

Madden said not, concluding that it was ball-to-hand. Accidental.

Lennon said... well, rather a lot as he raged after the game first at the officials and then in the tunnel at the SPFL’s match observer.

But when asked by the gathered pack of reporters on the trackside about his handshake snub for Murdoch, he was quick to apologise.

Lennon said: “I was too busy trying to get to the referee. But that’s bad on me. I apologise and I’ll go see the player. That’s not good enough from me. “I had tunnel vision but I should go and shake the kid’s hand.”

And sure enough, he did. Breaking brief ly from his interview to chase Murdoch down the touchline before shaking his hand with an explanation