Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon was furious at last night’s match officials for failing to award teenage striker Oli Shaw’s early ‘goal’ at Tynecastle.

The Northern Irishman insisted that he did not need to watch the TV replay to know that the ball had crossed the line because he could see from 50 yards away in the dugout.

It only took a few seconds for viewers of Sky Sports to realise the mistake when video evidence proved conclusively that the ‘goal’ should have stood and the Hibs fans were once again left with a feeling of injustice.

The incident was reminiscent of the infamous Leigh Griffiths’ ‘goal’ from a wonder free kick at Easter Road which was also not spotted by the referee.

The incident was the main talking point in the game which ended 0-0 and afterwards Lennon did not hold back when addressing the media describing the situation as a ‘mockery’ for the game in Scotland.

He said:  “I knew at the time it was a goal. It was a disgrace, 30 seconds later our boys are going nuts in the dugout because the guys behind are telling them it’s not even close.

“It’s a goal, everyone could see it. You could tell by way it came out of the goal.

 

“I know we’re all about a video ref. Sky are here, the fourth official only needs to check and see it’s a goal.

“The referee said he couldn’t get a good view of it and the linesman didn’t see it.

“The linesman saw every offside in the first half. He didn’t get the important one and these could cost us at the end of the season.

“We should be celebrating a big win. All the odds were against us, we were hearing all about what would happen to us here and it’s a hard one to take.

“This is a huge game. It’s live on TV and it’s making a mockery of the game.

“It’s a big, big decision that went against us again and that’s costing us important points.

‘We were by far the better team on difficult pitch. So it’s great for my players.

“I should be talking about a great win and he’s got to get it right. It’s a goal.”

 

John Hislop
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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.