BY NICK RODGER THE classic image of Neil Lennon remonstrating with a referee or trudging off a pitch with the kind of scowl that could melt a tank will probably be immortalised in bronze one of these days. He may have kissed and made up with Jim Duffy ahead of Saturday’s tussle with Morton but Bobby Madden, the match official, quickly became the target of Lennon’s withering fire when the Northern Irishman hissed that there was an “agenda” against him after a seemingly clear-cut penalty was not awarded to Hibernian.
Cue a unified, no-one likes us mentality from his players? Well, not quite. “I don’t think there is any agenda against us, the refs try their best,” said John McGinn with a display of diplomacy that will probably get him a seat at the United Nations. “Sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. I think on a couple of occasions today they got it wrong. But hopefully, next week things will turn in our favour.”
For Hibernian, resplendent in a luminous away kit that looked like they’d just emerged from a spillage at a toxic waste factory, this was their 13th draw of the season as the Championship leaders, and champions-elect, continue to shuffle towards the finishing line. For Morton, meanwhile, this was yet another terrific point which underlined all the club’s purposeful, industrious attributes.
The hoopla which accompanied the build-up to this game, in the wake of the well-documented palaver between Lennon and Duffy in the previous match between the sides, was wearing a bit thin and Thomas O’Ware, the Morton defender, was more than happy to focus on activities on the pitch. The Greenock side remain 11 points behind Hibs but they continue to cement their place in the play-offs and with a local derby tomorrow against St Mirren, there is plenty still to play for.
“Our gaffer played it (the Lennon incident) all down and to be honest I think both managers have been made into too much of a laughing stock,” said O’Ware.
“We’ve just concentrated on the game, we weren’t trying to get back at anyone, we just wanted three points.”
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