LENNON LAUDS MAGNIFICENT MARCIANO
HIBS boss Neil Lennon last night hailed ‘world class’ Ofir Marciano after his away-day specialists stormed past Rangers and into third place in the Scottish Premiership. The Easter Road boss labelled the Israeli’s close-range save from Kilmarnock’s Kris Boyd as equal to Craig Gordon’s celebrated stop from Steven Whittaker at Celtic Park in a 2-2 draw last month. Lennon described Gordon’s save that day as ‘Gordon Banks material’ and he was just as impressed by Marciano’s heroics in a 3-0 win at Rugby Park courtesy of goals from John McGinn, Simon Murray and Martin Boyle. The Hibs boss, whose side have yet to lose on the road in the league this season, said: ‘My goalkeeper was world class. The save he made from Kris Boyd was as good as Craig Gordon’s a few weeks ago. It was unbelievable. ‘We are now third in the table and it’s fantastic. Yes, we had to dig in at times and the scoreline maybe flattered us. But we definitely deserved to win. ‘We were excellent, a real threat and we scored three great goals. ‘It was clear that Kilmarnock have a spring in their step under Steve Clarke, but we are a good team and our away record is sensational.’ The only disappointment was McGinn limping off with a sore thigh, but Lennon will give him every chance to make Saturday’s home match against Dundee and Scotland’s friendly next midweek against Holland in Aberdeen. ‘He’s going to need a rest at some stage, but I couldn’t leave him out tonight as we are a bit light,’ said Lennon. ‘We will see how he is at the weekend, but I would prefer him to go away with Scotland. Unless he is really injured, I won’t be phoning Malky Mackay. It takes a lot to stop John McGinn.’ Killie boss Clarke believes his side’s two recent draws at Ibrox and Celtic Park had taken a toll on his team. But he was pleased to hear his side applauded by the Killie fans despite the defeat. Clarke said: ‘The fact most of them stayed to the end to clap the team off is a measure of how hard the lads tried. We had a slow start, but I think that’s down to the fact we put so much into the last two games.’