Neil Lennon criticized Hibernian’s passing during the first half of their 3-3 draw with Rangers at Easter Road on Sunday, calling it “atrocious.”
Rangers started strongly in the Scottish Premiership match on January 5, with Hamza Igamane scoring twice within the first 20 minutes.
Speaking about Hibs’ early struggles, former Celtic manager and pundit Lennon expressed frustration with their passing and noted that defenders Lewis Miller and Jack Iredale weren’t involved as much as they should have been.
“Hibs had a real problem,” Lennon said on Sky Sports Main Event Live (January 5, 12:54 pm). “The two outside centre-backs were almost spectators in the game. But once they adjusted to what Rangers were doing, Miller and Iredale got more involved and tightened things up. However, for the first 25 minutes, Rangers were devastating.”
Lennon added, “Hibs managed to get back into the game after pulling one goal back, but their passing in the first half was atrocious. They need to do better.”
In response to Lennon’s criticism, Hibernian showed signs of improvement. Martin Boyle scored to reduce the deficit, and in the second half, they were more assertive. A penalty was awarded just before the hour mark after Ianis Hagi fouled Josh Campbell in the box. Boyle converted the spot kick, leveling the score.
However, Igamane completed his hat-trick in the 74th minute to put Rangers back in the lead. It seemed Rangers were set to claim all three points, but in the 83rd minute, Hibs’ Rocky Bushiri emerged as the unlikely hero, scoring a close-range header to equalize.
The match ended in a 3-3 draw, meaning Rangers couldn’t build on their impressive 3-0 win over Celtic on January 2.
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