Hamilton 1-1 Hibernian: Neil Lennon says Hibs need more protection

Neil Lennon says his Hibs side played some of their best football of the season in the first half

Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon was furious with referee Don Robertson as he insisted his side were "kicked all over the park" in the 1-1 draw at Hamilton Academical.

Simon Murray opened the scoring but Accies fought back to earn a draw that stopped Hibs going second in the table.

"I'm not happy with his performance at all," Lennon said of the referee.

"They (Hamilton) don't tackle, they just kick. There's no protection at all and I'm not happy about it."

And Lennon, who felt his side should have been awarded a penalty, added: "I'm frustrated but I can't take anything away from my team today, we were great and needed a better referee.

Simon Murray's brilliant first-half strike gave Hibernian the lead

"We had no protection - we should have had a penalty on Dylan McGeouch and there was a foul on (Marvin) Bartley in the build-up to their goal.

"My analysis man has come in and said the tackle count was 19-7 - we got kicked all over the park. In the build-up to the goal they have two kicks at Brandon (Barker)."

Winger Barker set up Murray to score a wonderful first-half opener, with the visitors having the better of the chances throughout.

Good goalkeeping from Gary Woods and some poor finishing kept Hibs' lead to one, and they paid the price when Antonio Rojano's looping header earned Accies a point.

"I'm really proud of my players for the way we played," Lennon added. "We deserved to win it on a difficult pitch, but I'm not going to criticise the team in any way.

"We were in total control and the first half was as good as we've played all season.

"But you do need the second goal as, unfortunately for us, they score a very good goal from their point of view, but the game should have been out of sight."

Martin Canning was disappointed with his side's passing against Hibs

Accies manager Martin Canning admitted his side were fortunate to take a point.

"In the first half particularly, Hibs were dominant, their shape caused us a lot of problems," he said.

"But the biggest problem for us was our quality on the ball. It was probably the poorest we've been all season in terms of passing the ball.

"We must have passed the ball out the park half-a-dozen times in the game, which at this level isn't acceptable. On the basis of that, a point from this game is a good result for us.

"Obviously we are on a decent run and that bit of belief and momentum and confidence can sometimes get you a result maybe you wouldn't be expecting in terms of the balance of play. For us it was a point we've definitely gained in terms of the performance.

"Overall, we probably didn't deserve a lot from the game, but when you've got the quality at the top end of the park like (David) Templeton and Rojano, you can hurt teams."