Lennon left cold by Cummings
Dumbarton Hibernian
JASON Cummings came under fire from Hibernian manager Neil Lennon despite the striker’s first-half penalty earning the capital club a fifth straight win. It was a less than inspired performance from the Championship favourites, who dominated possession and dictated play for large portions of the match but struggled to break down a resilient Dumbarton defence.
Cummings missed a series of chances and Lennon said: “Jason had two or three sitters, so I’m unhappy with his performance overall today.
“He’s been away with Scotland and come back very rusty. He’s still only 20 and he’s scored seven goals and won us games already, so he’s priceless to us really.
“But there are aspects of his game he needs to improve. He reads situations really well but his finishing was a bit sloppy today. But he’s always in the right place and that’s a knack that you can’t coach.”
On the result, Lennon added: “We did enough to dig it out but we could have been two or three up at half-time and had the game won comfortably. I’m pleased with the mentality; we got a clean sheet as well. We dug out a very good result and I’m very happy with that.”
Hibs created their first scoring opportunity after 17 minutes when a John McGinn cross picked out Grant Holt. He headed across the face of goal for Cummings to shoot, but his close-range strike was beaten away by Dumbarton goalkeeper Alan Martin.
The hosts had their only real sight of goal in the first half after 21 minutes when captain Darren Barr tried a shot from distance but his effort was easily held by Ofir Marciano.
Hibs were rewarded for their dominance just after the half-hour when they were given a penalty for a push on Holt committed by home centre-back Gregor Buchanan.
Cummings fired the spot-kick low into the centre of the net to mark his 100th start for the Easter Road club with what proved to be the winner.
A minute later, and Cummings chased down a loose ball, but shot just over from inside the area. Andrew Shinnie tried his luck just before the break but his shot from 20 yards was well parried by Martin.
Dumbarton came into the game in the second half and three minutes in, Joe Thomson’s curling free kick was well saved by Marciano.
The visitors regained their grip on proceedings later in the match but lacked a cutting edge.
Dumbarton manager Stevie Aitken said: “It’s difficult to take. I thought the penalty was harsh but they go for and against you.
“We can take a lot of heart from that today. It was a great performance from my guys.
“Our season won’t be defined by these games, it will be on the games against teams around us.”