Celtic manager Neil Lennon claimed that his team were denied two clear cut penalties in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Hibs at Easter Road.
In the second half Lewis Stevenson appeared to catch goal scorer Ryan Christie inside the penalty area but referee Kevin Clancy waved play on.
Daryl Horgan then crashed into Moritz Bauer but again Clancy wasn’t interested, sparking fury from the travelling supporters.
Hibs’ Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom was also critical of the officials after being sent to the stands for kicking a water bottle and swearing at the fourth official after Celtic’s controversial equaliser,
He was also furious that Celtic’s midfielder Olivier Ntcham was only booked after striking Josh Vela three times in front of the referee after the players clashed just before the break.
In the end, a draw was probably a fair result as both sides created chances and defended well.
After the final whistle Lennon said: “I know we dropped points and people will be saying ‘Oh, it’s Lennon’, but we should have two penalties today.
“The one on Moritz Bauer is a clear penalty and the one on Christie is a clear penalty.
“We didn’t get a stonewall penalty against Kilmarnock, anyway, that’s not the reason, well it might be, why we dropped points.
“They were not debatable penalties, they were clear penalties and would have changed the psychology of the game.
“Our finishing in the final third wasn’t there, it was a little bit flat, we looked a little bit slack.
“The referee got a lot right but in my eyes he got some big decisions wrong.”
When asked about Ntcham, Lennon added: “You’ve got to keep your hands down.
“I’ll speak to Oli about that, I don’t know what the provocation was. Maybe both players merited a yellow card.
“There was a lot going on out there today.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
