Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon hailed his players following an ‘outstanding’ performance in last night’s victory over Hearts in front of a packed Easter Road.
Hibs deservedly took all three points in the game dubbed the ‘Natural Order’ derby thanks to goals from Scott Allan and Jamie MacLaren and now a top six finish is the extent of Hearts’ ambitions for the remainder of the season with Motherwell breathing down their necks.
Hibs on the other hand are looking to overtake Aberdeen and Rangers at the top of the table and a European place next season is looking likely unless either Kilmarnock or Motherwell win the Scottish Cup.
After Hearts knocked Hibs out of that competition, manager Craig Levein said that the ‘natural order’ had resumed, a statement that infuriated Lennon and the Easter Road fans. His words however came back to haunt him and just before full time, a banner with the words ‘Natural Order’ on it was unfurled for the upper deck of the Famous Five stand.
After the final whistle a delighted Lennon said: “I thought we were outstanding.
“We’re delighted. We’ve inched closer to the boys above us now and we’ve opened up a major gap between us and Hearts.
“They are irrelevant to us now. We are looking up the table rather than what’s behind us.
“I don’t want to get in to another verbal spat but when you make these statements they will always come back to haunt you at some stage.
“It’s come back to haunt him after four or five weeks.We’ve got the bragging rights back. For how long, I don’t know, but the gap in the table is huge, and it’s huge on the pitch as well.
“Aberdeen are away to Partick now and the gap is a point.
“Rangers have got Celtic and anything can happen. We’re just pleased we’ve maintained this good form.
“We’ve beaten good teams like Rangers, Aberdeen Hearts, and drew with Kilmarnock.
“With all the razzmatazz of the derby we went in really cold and played brilliantly.”
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.
