Battle of Hibs favourites ends in controversy as red card and penalty snub has ex Easter Road gaffer fizzing

A battle of Hibs favourites ended in refereeing confusion as a Scottish Championship clash played out.

Neil Lennon was appointed Dunfermline Athletic boss last week in his first crack at the second tier since guiding Hibs out the division. His first game, aided by the blockbuster signing of ex-Celtic midfielder Victor Wanyama, came against a man he knew well from time at Parkhead in Easter Road favourite Scott Brown’s Ayr United.

It was Ayr who came out on top by a 3-0 margin, former Hibs player Jamie Murphy amongst the scorers. Lennon was left far from happy after he felt his side were denied a penalty while Wanyama’s straight red for a handball after hitting the deck at Somerset Park left him fizzing.

Lennon reaction to Dunfermline debut

Asked what it was like to be back in the dugout, Lennon said: “Absolutely brilliant. Obviously, the result went against us but I thought we started the game well. I thought we should have had a penalty. I thought when Connor Young was about to pull the trigger, he gets tapped. I need to see it again, but everyone’s telling me there’s definite contact.

“What I’m disappointed with is our lack of cutting edge in the final third. I thought we defended absolutely fine. We gave the ball away up under no pressure at times in the first half far too cheaply. That’s got to be better but certainly we have to carry more of a threat in the final third. We’ve gone with three up to start with because we haven’t scored in four of the last five games. That’s five in the last six now. I can see why at times our final pass when we work the ball into good areas isn’t good enough or we’re just hitting areas and hitting defenders.

“We need far more quality in the final third. Individual errors for the first goal and the second one. There was nothing in the game. It’s not like I thought we got murdered or Tobi had to make save after save. I thought defensively we were fine. We’ve got to start being better with the ball and certainly create far more attack and thrust.

“He slipped and his initial reaction is to reach out for it. But I thought we had a Jeremiah there, I didn’t think the guy would have been clean through. Listen, I’m not happy with the referee. I got booked today for apparently contesting the decision where my player got flattened and then the guy remonstrates with the referee and still didn’t get a card. Very, very strange performance from him. Like I said, I felt we definitely should have had a penalty in the first half.”

Brown’s take

On the match, Brown added: “I thought overall we were really good in the game. I thought we were solid at the back. Made the right decisions at the right time, when to play, when to build and when to go in behind as well. I am delighed for the lads. It’s been a fantastic season. The lads showed unbelievable resilience to prove a point. There was a huge build up but we dealt with it with calmness. We dealt with weather conditions that were horrendous.

“Dunfermline is going to be hard game. For us, it’s important when a man gets sent off you get control of the game and I thought the lads did that really well. We’re delighted to win in front of our home fans.”