ANT AND DECKED
Rojano suckerpunch KOs Lennon
Neil Lennon was left raging after accusing Hamilton of roughhouse tactics in a bruising encounter.
In the end it was Antonio Rojano who really hurt Hibs with a leveller that denied the Edinburgh side the chance to move into second spot.
The Argentinian headed home with 18 minutes left to cancel out Simon Murray’s firsthalf opener in a game Hibs dominated.
Lennon blasted Hamilton and ref Don Robertson – who booked f ive Accies players – in an scathing postmatch rant.
And home gaf fer Martin Canning agreed his side got lucky. He said: “In the first half that was the poorest we have passed the ball this season.
“It was unbelievably slack and that disappointed me against Hibs’ diamond in the middle of the park that I warned the players about.
“We changed at half- time to match them up and in the second half, although not a great spectacle, we limited Hibs to little.” This was a first trip to Accies for Hibs since the first leg of their relegation play- off that saw them relegated to the Championship three years ago. Despite a 2- 0 win on that occasion they went down by the same scoreline in the return before losing a dramatic penalty shoot out. The club have recovered from that painful chapter in their history and are riding high in the top flight despite this draw. There was little in the opening stages to warm up the fans who turned out on a freezing afternoon in Lanarkshire. Brandon Barker dragged a shot wide for Hibs and never had Gary Woods seriously worried.
Darian MacKinnon had his name taken by Don Robertson for a barge on John McGinn before the away side scored on the half hour.
On- loan Manchester City kid Barker burst upfield and fed Murray who fired beyond Woods.
Hibs played with confidence and Martin Boyle had a shot saved by Accies keeper Georgios Sarris.
Barker’s speed continued to cause problems after the break and he crossed for Murray to head wide.
Hibs piled on the pressure in search of a second and it was Woods to the rescue when he made a point-blank stop from Paul Hanlon’s header.
Accies then made Hibs pay for failing to convert their chances when the home side grabbed an unlikely equaliser with 18 minutes left.
Dougie Imrie won the ball from Marvin Bartley before feeding David Templeton and his cross found Rojano to head past Ofir Marciano.
Xavier Tomas wiped out McGinn which led to a late free-kick but the set piece came to nothing.