A cup-tie billed as hugely significant as Celtic continued life without Brendan Rodgers – and under the guidance of Neil Lennon – delivered the latest chapter of off-field woe in a noticeably bitter Scottish season. A glass bottle flew past Scott Sinclair as the Celtic player prepared to take a 57th-minute corner; supporters of Hibernian have thereby been dragged, once more, into a debate on behaviour which all too often and wrongly surrounds only the Old Firm clubs.
“It has been a real sore point of this season; bottles, coins, flares,” said Lennon after this 2-0 Celtic success. “It is totally unacceptable. [The field] should be the safest environment for all players, staff, officials. It is happening far too often. That could have really hurt Scott today.”
Lennon, who was hit by a coin when managing Hibs earlier in this campaign, illustrated his exasperation when admitting he didn’t know how to rid the Scottish game of this rising curse. Darren McGregor, the Hibs defender, branded the incident “despicable”.
In a statement, Hibs claimed there had been more than one such scenario:“We will review the CCTV footage and work with the appropriate authorities to identify those involved in throwing items onto the pitch. We understand two bottles were thrown, one from each set of supporters. This is entirely unacceptable and puts players and others at risk.”
Lennon’s future beyond the end of the season is intrinsically linked to what success Celtic return in the immediate post-Rodgers era. For now, the Celtic favourite has dug-out duties until the summer. Rancour regarding Rodgers’s exit remains among the Celtic support. Second-half goals from James Forrest, a player championed by Lennon since youth team days, and Scott Brown removed the spectre of Celtic becoming domestically fallible. This was a comfortable success against an ultimately feeble Hibs side.
There was no visible reaction from the stands to the former Hibs manager’s reappearance here, a matter perhaps due in small part to the early results of his successor. Paul Heckingbottom had won three games out of three to douse the noise of a messy process during which Lennon was suspended by Hibs and, upon exiting Easter Road at the end of January, publicly lauded by the club. At the very least, it seems strange that a coach is deemed worthy of taking charge of the best team in the country in the immediate aftermath of one far lower down the food chain negotiating his departure. This sense of circus is recurring in the Scottish game.
Florian Kamberi attempted to inject some life into proceedings with an act of simulation that somehow escaped the attentions of Willie Collum, the referee. The Hibs forward had won a midweek penalty in similarly dubious circumstances; this time, the officials were lenient enough not to issue a caution while not sufficiently fooled to point towards the spot.
Lennon briefly took to the pitch to remonstrate about Collum’s next act of unexplainable compassion towards Hibs. Burke was clearly upended when just a yard outside the penalty area, a matter which failed to interest the referee.
The Celtic bench was soon united in celebration. Forrest stepped forward for his 20th goal of a fine campaign for club and country, his shot from 20 yards flying into Ofir Marciano’s top right-hand corner.
In a scrappy encounter, where the first goal would always be crucial, Forrest’s intervention fatally punctured Hibs’ resistance. Brown added gloss to the victory after a parting of the home defence allowed the Celtic captain to lash home. “We were outstanding, in total control,” Lennon said. It was hard to argue; albeit unfortunate that another narrative had already developed.
