NEIL LENNON will be banished to the stands against St Johnstone tonight after the Hibernian head coach was hit with an immediate three-match touchline ban following his furious rant at referee Kevin Clancy. 

The 46-year-old was also handed a further two-match suspension, which has been deferred until the end of 2018. That will be imposed if he is found guilty of a further breach of the Scottish FA’s disciplinary rule 203, relating to misconduct, in that period. 

Lennon was dismissed by Clancy during Hibs’ 2-2 draw against Kilmarnock on February 24 after complaining about a contentious penalty awarded against Ryan Porteous. 

That prompted a furious reaction from the fiery boss, which he conceded he was not proud of. 

However, Lennon later railed: “The penalty decision did not make me react the way I did - my sending off did. I debated the decision, as any other manager would, to the fourth official and I didn’t think my behaviour on the day warranted a sending-off. It made me very, very angry.”

As a consequence, he will be absent from the dugout at McDiarmid Park this evening, as well as subsequent Premiership fixtures against Partick Thistle and Hamilton at Easter Road. Assistant head coach Garry Parker will be charged with direction operations from the touchline.

Lennon, who personally attended the hearing at Hampden Park yesterday, was also found guilty of a breach of disciplinary rule 72 following his post-match comments, which included describing the officiating as ‘Mickey Mouse’. However, he escaped with a censure for that charge.