'Relieved' Hibs boss Lee Johnson welcomes rub of the green and offers Livingston red card verdict
Relief was the overriding emotion for Lee Johnson after his team’s 4-0 victory over ten-man Livingston, the Hibs manager insisting a rub of the green was long overdue for his team.
Johnson described the dismissal of Livingston midfielder Jason Holt after 15 minutes as a “yellow and a half”, but pointed out that things had been going against too often Hibs in their poor run of results.
The red card had a huge bearing on the outcome at Easter Road, where a Kyle Magennis double and goals from Kevin Nisbet and Chris Cadden sealed a comfortable 4-0 victory. The result moves Hibs above Livingston in the table to seventh place and ends a run of four straight defeats and seven losses in eight league games.
“It is a bit of a relief, no doubt about that,” said Johnson. “Relief for the lads and for me. It feels a little bit unjust at times, some of the things that have gone on. But confidence is a huge thing in football, and spirit and belief, and the buzz around the training ground. Celtic is a really difficult game on Wednesday, but going into it feeling like we have a much better chance than if we had lost.
He added: “We didn't want that feeling again of not winning a football match. It has been too long, although I maintain we have been unlucky in some of those games and our form hasn't been as bad as some people think. I think you saw that. You saw an organised team, a side that played with freedom and confidence after a run like that.
“Obviously, 15 minutes in the sending off has to be a factor and I'm not neglecting that, but at the same time we started the game really positive, really strong. Livingston then came into it and had a couple of shots from distance, but I felt we were in control and we were the dangerous side in the match.”
Holt was shown a straight red by referee Craig Napier for high challenge on Nisbet, despite playing the ball first. VAR Willie Collum, who couldn’t establish a link to the stadium before kick-off, didn’t overturn the decision or ask Napier to conduct a pitch-side review. Livingston were furious. Johnson felt it could have gone either way.
“Honestly, at the time, and I haven’t seen it back, I thought it was like a yellow and a half,” he said. “I thought it could have gone either way. When I saw the red I didn’t think they would rescind it because it wasn’t an obvious error. I thought it was one of those in between.
“It wouldn’t have surprise me if it had been a yellow, but I also wasn’t surprised – particularly given the way the referee moved in at the speed he did – that it was a red. Naturally, those moments happen quickly. I don’t think he’s gone to seriously injure anybody, but it was maybe just a little bit high.
“Obviously, it was an important moment in the match. The big thing for me was scoring the first goal – but then scoring the second goal. That was the moment where everybody said, ‘okay, we can play a bit more expansive and relax a bit more’. It wasn’t edgy and that gave us a little bit more creativity to our game and that’s why we deserve a comfortable victory.”