Hibs boss Neil Lennon says 1-0 Edinburgh derby scoreline ‘flattered’ Hearts

BOSS Neil Lennon believes midfielder Dylan McGeouch was at his best in the 1-0 win over Edinburgh rivals Hearts at Easter Road on Tuesday night.

Simon Murray’s strike in the third minute was enough to see Hibernian leapfrog the Gorgie men and into fifth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership.

Lennon noted that McGeouch, 24, was one of many succcesses in green and white in a game which he claimed could have had a more emphatic scoreline.

The Northern Irishman said: “Dylan’s football was unbelievable.

“His work rate and physicality have improved. We are getting best out of him now which is a delight to see. I am really happy for him.

“It’s the injury problems. He would be in for a couple of games and out with niggles, hamstring problems.

“The specialist seems to have got to bottom of it and psychologically he is in a real good place now and is playing wonderful football.”

Lennon was delighted with the victory over the Tynecastle side.

He said: “I thought the first half was perfect. I thought the football, intensity and pace we played at, maybe only Celtic could live with that.

“We have been playing ever so well for a while and we haven’t got what we have deserved.

“The scoreline flatters Hearts. We were thoroughly dominant.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of derbies, and that was as good as any in terms of the performance and feeling I got out of it.

“There was a lot riding on the game and we came through it brilliantly.”

Hearts boss Craig Levein bemoaned his side’s passing during a frenetic 90 minutes.

He said: “I am disappointed which you would expect but more so that we turned up with the right attitude but just didn’t play.

“I think it disappointed the players as well.

“I have no complaints about the effort we put in but we just didn’t pass the ball. It never really felt that we got a grip of the game.”