Neil Lennon expects victory over Celtic to '˜kick-start' Hibs' season

Neil Lennon was proud of Hibs performance against Celtic.

Goals from Vykintas Slivka and Florian Kamberi secured a 2-0 victory for the Easter Road side who were without several key men, including David Gray, Paul Hanlon, Marvin Bartley, Mark Milligan and Martin Boyle.

Although Hibs remain eighth in the Premiership after a recent seven-game run without a win resulted in them sliding down the table, a win over Rangers on Wednesday would take them back into the top six.

Lennon is hopeful that this triumph - Hibs’ second in successive matches - is a sign that they have turned the corner.

“It was a remarkable performance under the circumstances considering the omissions we had from the squad,” said the manager. “I’m proud and delighted – but I’m also annoyed because two weeks ago against Kilmarnock we were pathetic and now we’ve put together two back-to-back wins playing well.

“That should kick-start our season now and if we overcome Rangers on Wednesday we’re back in the top six and things look healthy again.

“I thought we looked healthy today and there was a good belief about us. On the counter-attack we were fantastic and off the ball our discipline was very good. We’ve beaten a very good team.”

Lennon was forced into a half-time substitution after Scott Brown scythed down Slivka shortly before the break. The Celtic captain escaped with a booking although replays suggested it should have been a red card. “It was a bit reckless,” said Lennon. “I don’t think it was deliberate, it’s sort of a scissor motion but at match pace it did not look a red card. Look at it again and it may have been.”

Lennon praised Slivka’s impact in the first half after the Lithuanian scored his third goal for the club - all of which have come against the Old Firm. “Slivka has great running capacity,” said the manager. “That’s his first goal of the season, he should score more with the game he has. He has good feet as you saw but he can motor and he covered the ground really well. It was a great switch of play by Oli Shaw, we were expecting him to hit it but he has come back inside on his left foot. Normally it would end up in Leith but he kept his composure and tucked it in. It gave us a nice foothold in the game to start with.”