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Dunfermline boss Neil Lennon admitted he sensed a shock was on the cards after getting a glimpse of Hibernian’s starting XI ahead of yesterday’s Scottish Cup cracker at East End Park.
The Pars booked their spot in the next round of the competition at the expense of their Premiership counterparts thanks to a dramatic own goal from Hibs substitute Miguel Chaiwa.
And Lennon – who guided the Easter Road side back up to the top flight as manager back in in 2017 – said he got a huge boost having learned that counterpart David Gray had made several changes to the team which lined up against Motherwell last weekend.
He said: ‘We’ve taken a big scalp here today and it should give the players a lot more belief in themselves and gives them a taste of what could be in a club like this.
‘I think everyone had written us off, you know, and I got a wee bit of a lift when I saw their team. I thought they made a lot of changes. I thought this might work in our favour.
‘We timed it perfectly. I said to my coaches with half an hour to go that I thought this is a 1-0 game, so it could go either way.
Dunfermline boss Neil Lennon savours a Cup shock over Hibernian
The Pars force the ball home in stoppage-time to progress to the fifth round
Chris Hamilton (left) and Matty Todd enjoy a famous victory at the full-time whistle
‘And thankfully for us it went our way. I thought our shape was good, but I didn’t think we played as well as we could have done in the first half.
‘(We told them to) play with a bit more positivity in the final third, a bit more belief and then… Andy (Tod) has the shot and it sort of lifts the place.
‘I thought my back three were immense and my goalie even called upon was very good, which you need in these games. And I thought the rest of them worked very, very hard.’
On whether he thought Gray took his side lightly, Lennon added: ‘I don’t know. I thought he was going to go strong to start with, but I’m not going to tell David what to do with his team. We try to be as strong as we can.’
Sitting just three points off the play-off spots in the Championship with a game in hand, Dunfermline are firmly in the promotion race, and Lennon hopes Saturday’s result can prove to be a springboard going forward.
He said: ‘It shows the potential that the club has. But we’re a million miles away from where we want to be just yet.
‘But this is another incremental step in the right direction for us in that it gives the club more profile, gives the players more profile, gives everyone the profile and a little glimpse of what could be.’
Kieron Bowie and Thibault Klidje spurned golden opportunities to put Hibs in front either side of the break, but manager Gray admitted his side didn’t do enough to progress.
Beaten boss David Gray made plenty of changes in the Cup defeat
Kieron Bowie misses a good opening as Hibs are sent crashing out of the tournament
On Lennon’s comments, he said: ‘I have tough decisions every single week and the 11 that goes on the pitch has got responsibility to play at a certain level because then the squad’s then strong enough to come in off the back of it.
‘So in terms of getting lifts, getting whatever, I think everyone looks at their own situation.
‘Every player that gets the opportunity to play for this football club has got responsibility to play to the best of their ability.
‘Unfortunately today we didn’t have enough that did.
‘The reality of the situation is we’re out of the cup and I can’t stand here and say that we’ve done well enough to ensure that we’re in the next round, and I think that’s very fair – congratulations to Dunfermline.
‘Everything I spoke about this week, everything we talked about in terms of expectation, we fell below the standards and we’re out of the cup because of it.
‘I think we had 5,000 supporters that came that are all going home disappointed and rightly so. I need to own that.
‘Players need to own that and we need to bounce back as quickly as we possibly can because we are, I’ve said it as long as I’ve been at this club, an incredibly well-supported club.
‘The passion’s there, the togetherness is there and unfortunately today we’ve let them down.’
