Hibernian 0-1 Brondby: Neil Lennon unhappy with 'pathetic' officials

Neil Lennon was sent to the stand after complaining about a Hibs goal being disallowed

Neil Lennon believes Jason Cummings' goal was wrongly ruled out for offside as Hibernian slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Brondby in Europa League qualifying.

The Hibs boss also hit out at the "pathetic" decision to send him to the stand for challenging the ruling.

"We had a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed. It was a beautiful goal.

"I've remonstrated with the linesman and the next thing I know I'm sitting in the stand. It's pathetic, absolutely pathetic," Lennon told BBC Scotland.

Hibs fell behind after just 17 seconds of the second qualifying round first leg at Easter Road, goalkeeper Otso Virtanen fumbling the ball into the path of Kamil Wilczec to turn the ball home.

Cummings thought he had hauled Hibs level after finishing off a fine move, only to see the strike ruled out for offside.

"The linesman's not up with play so he can't make the decision," Lennon continued.

"We've seen it again about five times from different angles and Jason has actually checked his run to make sure he is onside."

Jason Cummings thought he had brought Hibs level, but his goal was ruled out for offside

'A really top quality performance'

Despite the defeat, Lennon believes his team can go to Denmark and win to go through to the next round.

"Yeah, no question. We've had a good look at them now. Maybe they got spooked a little bit the first five or 10 minutes which is natural when you concede a goal in the manner that we did, but the reaction after that was fantastic. So the tie is not over."

"It was a quality performance. There were some outstanding performances. The team as a whole were excellent. They gave me everything tonight I could have asked for really.

"A really top quality performance from a team that wasn't expected to produce that. I am surprised not only by the level of quality they have shown but their desire, which is very pleasing."

The former Celtic manager believes keeper Virtanen, 22, whose error proved so costly, had a decent game other than that horror moment.

"He's not had much opportunity, we've given him an opportunity tonight. Apart from obviously the important thing which is a goal, he handled the game pretty well.

"He's got to mentally strong now and get through that quickly."