Neil Lennon takes swipe at Hamilton’s ‘caveman’ tackling as Hibs are held

Hibernian manager Neil Lennon launched a remarkable attack on “caveman'' Hamilton and referee Don Robertson following the 1-1 draw at the SuperSeal Stadium.

The Northern Irishman was raging at the home side's approach to the Ladbrokes Premiership encounter and angry at the official for not taking stronger action, even though Scott McMann, Xavier Tomas, Dougie Imrie, Darian MacKinnon and Darren Lyon were all booked.

Simon Murray's first-half strike for the Leith side was cancelled out after the break, against the run of play, by striker Antonio Rojano whose goal extended Accies' unbeaten run to five games.

However, Lennon was more concerned about what he claimed was a “disgraceful performance'' by Hamilton.

“There was one team trying to play football and the other team trying to kick the c**p out of the opposition,'' he said.

“We got no protection at all. We are going to lose John McGinn, he will either go to England or end up in hospital.

“No protection for him whatsoever, it was caveman stuff.

“The quality of tackling from the opposition was a disgrace. The foul count was 19 to seven, they had five yellow cards.

“How they ended up with 11 men on the pitch is beyond me.

“If you see our goal again, two of them tried to take (Brandon) Barker out, no attempt to play the ball.

“The referee should have gone back and booked them. The tackle on McGinn at the end was disgraceful.

“We should have had a penalty with Dylan McGeouch; Danny Redmond took him out as he went to cross the ball and we believe there might have been a foul in the build-up to their goal.

“I am very frustrated. Not with my team, I thought they were brilliant, but disappointed with the referee. I thought he was completely out of his depth.

“We are going back to the 1950s. I like a tackle, and hard men, but anyone can kick people.

“They were taking swipes at us at every opportunity they could and it's not on.''

Having vented his frustration, the former Celtic boss admitted his side should still have won.

He said: “We were great. We dominated the first half, our football was good. We had two great chances after half-time, their keeper made two point-blank saves and we looked really comfortable.

“But you always need the second goal and I think they had one attempt on goal and scored.''

Before Lennon spoke out at the post-match press conference, Accies boss Martin Canning admitted his own side were fortunate to get the point.

Canning said: “It is definitely a point gained.

“Hibs were well ahead in the first half and that was as poor as we have passed the ball.

“It was incredible how sloppy we were.

“But we have the belief to hang in and work hard and it was a fantastic header, and we managed to get a point out of a game in the past we would have lost.'

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