Neil Lennon last night called upon officials and police to prioritise the safety of all those in and around the pitch after a bottle throwing incident marred Celtic’s Scottish Cup win over Hibernian last night.

Scott Sinclair had a glass bottle of Buckfast thrown at him as he went to take a corner at Easter Road with television cameras capturing the incident as the winger went to take the set-piece. Hibs were later informed by police that a second bottle had been thrown during the game.

It is the latest in a number of incidents this season. Lennon himself was hit by a coin at Tynecastle earlier this season while Kris Boyd had a coin thrown at him at Rugby Park a fortnight ago. Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos was hit by a coin in a game against St Mirren in November while a linesman was struck with a coin at Livingston by a visiting Rangers support in the earlier part of the season.

“It’s just a real sore point of this season,” said Lennon. “Bottles, coins, flares, it’s just totally unacceptable. These players should be out there, should be the safest environment to be.

“They are entertaining the public, whether that be the Celtic public, the Scottish public. Officials and management, it should be a safe environment for us to come and do our job and work and enjoy it.

“I don’t like to see it, it’s got to be stamped out. It’s just happening far too often. That could really have really hurt Scott and if it had then God knows what we’d be talking about now.

“I’m not sure if he was aware of it, I haven’t had a chance to speak to him yet. I don’t know why it’s happening, it must be a social thing. But we’ve seen officials, players, managers with coins and bottles and it’s not on.

“We need to find the culprits, arrest them and punish them. You can’t stop individual from moments of madness when they have probably had too much to drink.”

Hibs manager Paul Heckingbottom and Celtic captain Scott Brown united in their condemnation of the incident. A statement from Hibs in the immediate aftermath of the game lamented the incident but claimed there had been more than one bottle thrown.

“We will review the CCTV footage and work with the appropriate authorities to identify those involved in throwing items onto the pitch,” it read. “We understand two bottles were thrown, one from each set of supporters. This is entirely unacceptable and puts players and others at risk. The match was a good game, played in a great spirit but unfortunately yet again the headlines will be around this kind of unacceptable conduct.”

Heckingbottom was equally irked by the incident. Hibs' Darren McGregor also threw a burning flare off the pitch as the visiting support celebrated James Forrest's goal.

“I've just been told about it,” he said. “No-one wants to see things like that so wherever it's come from, whoever’s thrown it, we need to find them.

“It's happening a little bit too often at the moment and everyone needs to be behind the effort to stop it. It seems to be happening a little bit more up here but it's still happening all over, we haven't got rid of it totally in England.

“No-one wants in it and everyone - police, governing bodies, clubs, fans in amongst them - need to help.”

Celtic captain Brown too condemned the thuggish behaviour.

“You don't want to see bottles or coins being thrown at players, it's not nice,” he said. “You never know, it could hit someone in the eye. It's a big problem in the game but it happens at every ground. It's not just one team or stadium. I know it's an emotional game but it's a game of football and you don't want anyone getting smacked in the head by bottles or coins.”