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Lennon was bitterly disappointed to see his side lose their quarter-final tie in a dramatic sudden-death penalty shoot-out after neither team could score a goal in 120 minutes of play.

However, he was delighted with the display his players had produced, blaming missed “gilt-edged chances, easy chances, schoolboy chances” for the fact they failed to score at home against domestic opposition for the first time in almost a year, the previous occasion being when a Gary Mackay-Steven goal gave the Dons a 1-0 victory.

“It was a brilliant, superb performance against a very good side,” declared Lennon. “We dominated, we cut them open but didn’t do the most important thing – that’s scoring goals.”

Neil Lennon rued missed chances against Aberdeen

Lennon confessed to having been left bemused by referee Steven McLean’s performance during the game in which Martin Boyle had two efforts disallowed, for handball in the first half and offside in the second.

He said: “It was a strange, strange performance from the referee and how Aberdeen finished with 11 men after the 90 minutes is beyond me. But he was not the reason for the defeat. We missed good opportunities but I was really pleased with the performance, the mental attitude and the way we tried to force the game all the time.

“When you assess a game, I always look at the number of attempts and we were in the 20s. So we are doing something right.

“The quality of football was great, as was our movement and pace to get in behind them on many occasions which is a difficult thing to do against Aberdeen.

“We did everything right but score so I am not going to be too critical of the players. They know they let one get away.

“I’m not unhappy with them at all. Play like that against St Mirren and we will win.”

Neil Lennon: Repeat Dons display and Hibs will beat St Mirren