FURIOUS Hibernian manager Neil Lennon last night branded Hamilton as cavemen who were taking football back to the 1950s after they scrapped their way to a draw with his side at the Superseal Stadium.
Lennon was particularly incensed with the treatment dished out to Scotland midfielder John McGinn, who he says will end up in hospital if referees don’t start protecting him, and he slated match official Don Robertson for his handling of the game, proclaiming the whistler to be out of his depth.
“There was one play trying to play football and the other team trying to kick the crap out of the opposition,” said a livid Lennon.
“We got no protection at all. We’re going to lose John McGinn. Either he goes to England or he ends up in hospital. The quality of tackling was a disgrace.
“I’m very frustrated, but not with my team—I thought they were brilliant. The referee was completely out of his depth. We’re going back to the 1950s.
“I like a tackle. I like the game played the right way, I like hard men, but anyone can kick people. They were taking swipes at us at any opportunity and it’s not on.
“John McGinn got kicked up the backside in the box, volleyed, and no-one saw it. Then he gets booked, having been fouled, a petulant little trip on him when he goes in for a tackle. The referee gives us a free-kick and books John. It’s unbelievable.
“There was no protection for him or the likes of Boyle. It’s caveman stuff.
“I love the physical side, but you have to play within the laws of the game. How they ended up with a full complement of players, it beggars belief.”
Despite the perceived rough treatment from the home side, Hibs had looked to be cruising towards three points after they completely dominated the first half of the match and went ahead through Simon Murray.
They broke at lightning pace through Brandon Barker, the winger picking up the scraps at the edge of his own area and burning away from two Accies players before playing in Murray on the right-hand edge of the area.
The striker took a touch to compose himself before rifling the ball home into the top right-hand corner, but Lennon even found a grievance with the goal.
“At our goal two of them tried to take Barker out with no attempt to play the ball,” he said. “The referee should have gone back and booked them.
“I’ve not had a chance to speak to the referee. It’s beyond belief some of the challenges. It was disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful.”
A cynical observer may suggest that Lennon was attempting to deflect attention away from the fact that his players had conspired to throw away two points that they really should have been taking having been so dominant.
Accies had been awful, but a moment of magic from one of last week’s Ibrox goal heroes David Templeton conjured up an equaliser out of nothing with a little under 20 minutes to go.
Dougie Imrie pinched the ball from Marvin Bartley, fairly in referee Robertson’s view, and fed Templeton in a central position 30 yards from goal. He chipped a peach of a ball over the Hibs defence onto the head of Rojano, and the forward produced a great finish, looping the ball over Ofir Marciano and into the net.
It was Hamilton’s first and only attempt of any note, not that manager Martin Canning was caring as his side clocked up their fifth game without defeat.
“I thought it might be a long way back when Hibs could’ve got a second. But on the back of a decent wee run we had some belief to work hard and hang in.
“We managed to get a point out a game which in the past we might have lost. It’s a point gained, and we’ve been a bit fortunate.”
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