Lennon relishes Dons clash as Hibs eye second spot

HIBERNIAN 5 KILMARNOCK 3

Hibernian moved to within three points of second-placed Aberdeen with a 5-3 win over Kilmarnock on Saturday to leave boss Neil Lennon relishing the trip to Pittodrie next week.

In an action-packed afternoon at Easter Road, Killie boss Steve Clarke was sent to the stand at the interval by referee Don Robertson with the score 1-1 after midfielder Scott Allan’s 29th-minute opener was cancelled out by Rugby Park skipper Kris Boyd’s close-range header.

However, the home side, buoyed by last week’s 2-1 win over leaders Celtic in their first post-split fixture, proved too strong after the break.

Steven Whittaker, Jamie Maclaren, Florian Kamberi and substitute Brandon Barker scored further goals for Hibs with Kilmarnock stopper Stuart Findlay and Boyd notching again for the Ayrshire men as Lennon’s side extended their unbeaten league run to 11 games.

Asked about the trip to the Granite City next weekend – in what is their third-last game of the season – the Northern Irishman said: “That’s a big game.

“It was always going to be. When you look at the fixtures you think ‘that is a real tough one’. Derek (McInnes) knows how to get it done and Pittodrie is a tough place, they are good at home.

“So it sets the game up really well. Obviously we have to see the outcome of Rangers at Celtic but we have given ourselves a right good chance, we have put ourselves in a great position.”

Clarke, disgruntled by Robertson’s “general performance” was happy with his side’s effort, saying they were “totally committed” – but he rued some slack defending.

He said: “We didn’t defend as well as we usually do.

“But I felt for long periods in the game we were the better team.“

Hamilton climbed six points clear of the foot of the Premiership with a 2-0 win over Ross County, with the goals coming from Dougie Imrie and David Templeton.