Hibernian manager Neil Lennon has hit out at referee Steven McLean and assistant Sean Carr for wrongly disallowing a goal for his side during last night's Edinburgh derby with Hearts.
The two sides played out a goalless draw at Tynecastle but Hibs should have come away with all three points after Oli Shaw's strike went in off the underside of the bar in the sixth minute of the contest.
After consultation, McLean and Carr ruled the goal out but speaking after the game, a furious Lennon said that it was "a clear goal" and accused the officials of making "a mockery" of Scottish football.
"This is a huge game," he told reporters. "It's live on TV, and it's making a mockery of the game. It's a goal. It's well over the line. It's a goal, everyone could see it. You could tell by way it came out of the goal.
"It was a disgrace. It was daylight over the line. How he didn't see that was beyond me. This is a big game. There's a lot riding on it for the pride of the city and the three points on offer. We should be walking away here with three points.
"It's well over the line. Everyone in my dugout can see and I think half the crowd knew it, as well. I agree that the referee cannot guess but the linesman should see that as a clear goal. It's a big, big decision that went against us again. We had the handball against Rangers and again tonight. That's costing us important points. We were by far the better team on a difficult pitch. So it's great for my players. But I should be sitting here talking about a great win.
"He's got to get it right. It's a goal. A goal is a goal. I know we're all about a video ref. Sky are here, the fourth official only needs to check and see it's a goal. The referee said he couldn't get a good view of it - and the linesman didn't see it. The linesman saw every offside in the first half. He didn't get the important one.
"These could cost us at the end of the season. We should be celebrating a big win. All the odds were against us, we were hearing all about what would happen to us here. It's a hard one to take. No, he didn't acknowledge that he got it wrong. Because he didn't know whether he'd got it wrong at the time. I knew at the time it was a goal. Thirty seconds later, our boys are going nuts in the dugout because the guys behind are telling them it's not even close. I'm really pleased – really pleased - with the players because that was attritional."
The result saw Lennon's side stay put in fourth place in the Scottish Premiership table, five points behind Rangers in third.
Neil Wilkes
