Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon was delighted to secure all three points at Ibrox yesterday but believes that his side should have won by a bigger margin.
The game was played at a frenetic pace in front of a packed and noisy stadium and after losing an early goal, Hibs fought back and equalised through a superb solo effort from the prolific Simon Murray, his tenth of the season.
Anthony Stokes and James Tavernier were both books as tempers frayed then Ryan Jack was sent off leaving Rangers with ten men.
From then on Hibs totlly dominated possession and an own goal before half time was followed by a fantastic half volley from former Juventus midfielder Vykintas Slivka to make the score 3-1.
Hibs then created a number of good chances before Tavenier pulled one back with ten minutes remaining but Lennon’s men held on for the deserved victory.
Speaking after the game to Hibernian Media, Lennon said: “I wasn’t happy with the way we started at all. For us to give a goal away from a set play is poor but once we found our feet we were fine, then we scored a great goal.
“The sending off put us in the ascendency and we made the most of it.
“I thought there were some brilliant performances. In the second half we controlled the game and really we should have won the game four or five at the end. We had some brilliant passing moved in the second half and showed some excellent maturity. At times we cut them open at will but we were a bit lax in front of goal when we had the opportunity to put the game beyond Rangers.
“It won’t be easy for any team coming here.
“From our point of view it’s a magnificent victory and a great day for the supporters.
“Our first goal was a magnificent effort and Simon (Murray) keeps getting better. I thought he was great today again.
“He took his goal brilliantly and put the defender on his backside.
“Sometimes you need that piece of individual brilliance to get you back into the game and from then on we never looked like losing.
“We looked dangerous when we moved the ball quickly in the final third and there wasn’t any panic. We saw the game out well.
“Slivka is a good player and I have been really impressed with him. I had no hesitation in playing him today. Graeme Mathie must take a lot of credit for Slivka coming in. He’s been checking him for a year and we liked the look of him and when the opportunity came to bring him in we decided to go for it.
“He has settled in very well and made his debut by scoring the winner at Ibrox so it’s all downhill from there.
“We lost Marvin (Bartley) and Martin Boyle, two players who would certainly make us better. It shows the depth that we have.”
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.
