Sure-sighted Stevenson is behind skipper
MYOPIA is a common ailment for professional footballers who have just seen an incident of on-field controversy.
But where Lewis Stevenson is concerned, what he did not see amid Wednesday’s astonishing mass brawl at Easter Road was of the utmost significance.
The Hibs left-back is adamant there was no contact as Morton’s Kudus Oyenuga tumbled theatrically when approached by Darren McGregor.
The Easter Road skipper was left furious by the substitute’s lunge on Jordon Forster but was soon red carded by referee Nick Walsh for an alleged retaliatory headbutt, while Oyenuga was also dismissed.
Rival bosses Jim Duffy and Neil Lennon were then both ordered to the stand amid clashes between the camps.
While claiming to have missed everything else of note, Stevenson insists he had 20/20 vision of McGregor’s actions.
‘I am going to be really boring but I didn’t see much of what happened because my head was down,’ he claimed.
‘It was a bad tackle. I can’t really comment much on what happened after that. But the one thing I actually saw was that Darren did not touch (Oyenuga). I don’t think Darren made contact at all.
‘You want to show your team spirit when one of your players gets hurt. You want to show you care but you don’t want to get sent off.
‘I’m sure if it was the opposite way around they (Morton) would have done the same. But I genuinely don’t think he made any contact. He basically went over to tell the boy to get up.
‘Thankfully, Jordon was all right after the tackle. I think he hurt his shoulder — not his leg.’
Despite the bad feeling between the two Championship sides, Stevenson insists Hibs have to control their ill-will. Lennon’s side visit Cappielow a week tomorrow and the fullback believes carrying a grudge to Greenock will not benefit anyone.
‘It was difficult to shake hands at the end,’ he admitted. ‘But that’s football. And we’ve got to play them soon, so we can’t let it boil over too much. But it was funny because it wasn’t that kind of game. There was only one bad tackle in the match.
‘But it was a high-stakes game and these things can boil over. That’s what probably happened. Just the one incident can spark that kind of thing.’
Before the match, Lennon had said that a win would all but guarantee Hibs’ promotion as champions of the second tier. A draw leaves the Easter Road side ten points clear of Morton, and Stevenson is desperate to get over the line as soon as possible.
‘It was a frustrating night,’ he said. ‘If we had won, we would almost have put the league to bed and we are disappointed not doing that.
‘The manager wasn’t happy with our performance. He wants better from us and rightly so. We had a lot of the ball but we didn’t created any clear chances.
‘But I don’t think a point is a bad result for us. We are still in the driving seat and we know what we need to do
‘We are desperate to get over that finish line but we can’t let that desperation take over and stop us playing the way that we want to play.
‘We are still in a great position. If someone had told us we would be in this position at the start of the season we would have taken it gladly.
‘There are a lot of points to play for and we have only been beaten three times this season. I don’t want to tempt fate but if we pick up four or five wins, then that’s it done.’