Lennon pitches in with Rugby Park criticism

Hibs manager Neil Lennon took aim at Rugby Park’s artificial pitch after his side surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw at Kilmarnock.

Lennon, who was banished from the sidelines during the draw, labelled the plastic surface a hazard for opposing teams and said it was easy to see why the Ayrshire side came into the match on a seven-game winning streak at home.

Hibs capitalised on a lacklustre start by Killie with goals from Florian Kamberi after 30 seconds and Ryan Porteous on nine minutes, but their manager said they could not get fully up to speed because of the plastic surface.

Lennon said: “If we’d have lost this would have sounded like sour grapes so I’m glad we’ve come away with a point, but the fact is the pitch is abysmal.

“I can understand why Kilmarnock have won seven in a row here. It’s impossible to play football on it.

“It’s dangerous and players are losing their balance, slipping and falling over. It’s dry, they really should water it but they won’t because it’s a disadvantage to them.”

A stunning strike from Jordan Jones and then Kris Boyd’s goal levelled matters for the hosts in the space of three second-half minutes.

● David Templeton struck a stoppage-time winner to move Hamilton above Partick Thistle and out of the bottom two.

The winger netted from close range to give Accies a 2-1 win and move them five points ahead of Ross County.

The game lacked quality apart from a flurry of chances around the 10-minute mark when Antonio Rojano cancelled out Conor Sammon’s opener, and in an exciting finale.