Lenny criticises referee as Celtic drop first points

Celtic manager Neil Lennon claimed that his team were denied
two clear cut penalties in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Hibs at Easter Road.

In the second half Lewis Stevenson appeared to catch goal
scorer Ryan Christie inside the penalty area but referee Kevin Clancy waved
play on.

Daryl Horgan then crashed into Moritz Bauer but again Clancy
wasn’t interested, sparking fury from the travelling supporters.

Hibs’ Head Coach Paul Heckingbottom was also critical of the
officials after being sent to the stands for kicking a water bottle and
swearing at the fourth official after Celtic’s controversial equaliser,

He was also furious that Celtic’s midfielder Olivier Ntcham
was only booked after striking Josh Vela three times in front of the referee after
the players clashed just before the break.

In the end, a draw was probably a fair result as both sides
created chances and defended well.

After the final whistle Lennon said: “I know we dropped
points and people will be saying ‘Oh, it’s Lennon’, but we should have two
penalties today.

“The one on Moritz Bauer is a clear penalty and the one
on Christie is a clear penalty.

“We didn’t get a stonewall penalty against Kilmarnock,
anyway, that’s not the reason, well it might be, why we dropped points.

“They were not debatable penalties, they were clear
penalties and would have changed the psychology of the game.

“Our finishing in the final third wasn’t there, it was
a little bit flat, we looked a little bit slack.

“The referee got a lot right but in my eyes he got some
big decisions wrong.”

When asked about Ntcham, Lennon added: “You’ve got to keep your hands down.

“I’ll speak to Oli about that, I don’t know what the
provocation was. Maybe both players merited a yellow card.

“There was a lot going on out there today.”