OUT OF ORDER
Lennon accuses Levein of lacking respect for Hibs
HIBERNIAN boss Neil Lennon last night accused Craig Levein of disrespect after the jubilant Hearts manager claimed his side’s derby win had restored the ‘natural order’ in Edinburgh.
Don Cowie’s 87th-minute winner settled a scrappy Scottish Cup fourth-round derby at Tynecastle, ending the Easter Road side’s run of nine capital clashes without defeat.
After plotting Hearts’ first win over Hibs since August 2014, a triumphant Levein said: ‘I don’t like this idea Hibs were gaining any sort of momentum and I want to try to restore the natural order of things. It’s a massive win for us and we deserved it.
‘The longer the run goes on, the more difficult it
becomes and the more steely Hibs become when they are protecting something. ‘We needed to break it and today was a relief. ‘We’ve stopped the run that Hibs had, we’ve gone through to the next round of the cup and we feel good about it.’ However, an irate Lennon accused Levein of ‘lacking humility’ and vowed to use his derby rival’s comments as motivation for the two Edinburgh derbies that remain in the Scottish Premiership this season. ‘What does that mean, restoring the natural order? I don’t understand that,’ said the former Celtic manager. ‘What is the natural order? Is it Hearts beating Hibs every time? ‘It’s just a crock of crap. It’s pretty poor. It’s a pretty poor statement to make and I think it’s disrespectful to my club — and my players and me. ‘And we have got two more games to come, so we will see if the natural order is restored then. ‘It’s not good. I don’t know what he (Levein) means by it but they have not won in nine derbies, and this is my first defeat in five derbies. ‘We also should have won the league game here in December but they got lucky (when Oli Shaw had a legitimate ‘goal’ disallowed). ‘There’s a lack of humility in that statement. I don’t think I have ever made a statement like that.’ Lennon also accused Hearts of over-celebrating at the final whistle, adding: ‘It shows how much we have improved over the last couple of years that they were celebrating like they had won the cup.’ Levein played down a shoving match between himself and Hibs winger Martin Boyle near the end of the match. ‘He came into our technical area to get the ball. It was nothing. We’ve all seen a lot worse,’ said the Hearts manager. Levein also warned his side they face a tough fifth-round tie after being drawn at home to Albion Rovers or St Johnstone. He said: ‘I would think — and I might be wrong on this one — that St Johnstone will win the tie. Our record against St Johnstone isn’t particularly great. So if you had asked me if I’d have picked a tie, I don’t think I’d have picked that one. But we are at home again and that makes me feel good.’ Meanwhile, Lennon also revealed that bad-boy striker Anthony Stokes will find out in the next week whether he has a future at the club. The controversial 29-year-old may have played his last game for the Easter Road side after he was left out of yesterday’s matchday squad. The axing comes just a week after Republic of Ireland international Stokes was disciplined for breaking a curfew on the Hibs winter-break training camp in the Algarve alongside team-mates Danny Swanson and Boyle. The trio were ordered to train by themselves while the Leith club carried out an internal disciplinary hearing, which ended with all three players being censured. But it was the second time this season that Stokes has found himself in hot water with the Leith club. The Dubliner was dropped for a trip to Hamilton in November after a ‘difference of opinion’ with Lennon on the training ground. The Hibs manager’s patience with Stokes is now understood to be all but exhausted. Speaking before the Scottish Cup match at Tynecastle yesterday, Lennon described Stokes as being ‘not in the right frame of mind’. The Northern Irishman added: ‘I have 20 other professional footballers to think about, so he (Stokes) is not involved. ‘If he will be in the future, that remains to be seen. We will have to wait and see. ‘I’m not going to dwell on it too much and I’d rather just focus on the players who are going to go out there and perform for the club. ‘We’ve dealt with it formally and I’m going to leave it at that for now.’ After the match, Lennon refused to blame his side’s cup exit and first derby loss in ten games on Stokes being absent. ‘The only thing I would say is that I don’t think his absence made a difference,’ insisted the Hibs manager. ‘It’s a club issue and it will be resolved one way or another in the next week or so.’