NEIL Lennon last night admitted Hibernian centre half Ryan Porteous had been fortunate not to be ordered off for his foul on Rangers midfielder Lassana Coulibaly at Easter Road.
Porteous scythed down Coulibaly in the second-half of the Ladbrokes Premiership match, but referee Craig Thomson only showed the defender a yellow card.
Lennon, who confessed his team had been fortunate to take a point from the match, conceded the 19-year-old will need to be less reckless in future.
“It’s an aspect of his game that doesn’t please me," said. "It’s not the way we’re coaching him. He’s got good attributes.
“He’s maybe fortunate in that on another day that could have been a red, so he needs to take that out of his game. I don’t mind a tackle, but if you leave the ground you’re asking for trouble.
“Some people say it was a good challenge. I don’t know, I’ve not seen it again, but I wasn’t impressed with it."
Lennon was pleased that his team, who had beaten Celtic 2-0 at home on Sunday, came away from the match with a draw.
But he revealed that Ofir Marciano, who limped off early in the first-half and was replaced by Adam Bogdan, had suffered a calf injury.
“It was a great point in the end," he said. "I thought we rode our lucky at times. It wasn’t ideal losing our goalkeeper after little over 10 minutes. That sort of affects the way you want to use your substitutions.
"I thought we started the game well and then Rangers came on very strong. Listen, I am delighted with the point. I think we can play better, but you have to give credit to Rangers as well. I thought they were very good.”
“Bogdan made two great saves. They probably had the two best chances of the first-half, then we had two great chances with Oli (Shaw).
"But (Alfredo) Morelos was always a threat tonight. He was very, very good. I was singing his praises before the game and I was glad he didn’t have his shooting boots on because he was a real threat.
"I thought Rangers did the dirty bits of the game a lot better than we did. But that is maybe to be expected with the size of the club they are and the finances they have.
"It was a good learning curve for some of our younger players as well. We looked a little bit leggy towards the end of the game and that is obviously a worry for me.”
Lennon added: “Shaw should have scored, but then again Steven (Rangers manager Gerrard) will probably say Morelos should have scored. Rangers I thought were on the front foot a lot more than us.
“We didn’t pass the ball anywhere near enough and it looked like there was a bit of fatigue in there at times as well.
“Too many for me were a bit half-hearted. While I’m delighted with the point I’m not overly satisfied with the performance.
“Under the circumstances to take four points off of Rangers and Celtic in the space of three days is very, very pleasing.
“I can’t expect them to replicate the level of performance they showed (on Sunday). I don’t think we’re there yet in terms of the maturity and the quality in the squad to be able to do that just yet."
Asked about Marciano, Lennon said: “It is a calf strain. He felt it pop. I don’t know how that’s happened. He’s had three games back and has not had a lot to do.
"Then 10 minutes into the game his calf goes. It’s bewildering how that’s happened. I’m getting fed up with the injuries to tell you the truth.”
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