Hibernian boss Neil Lennon hails win vs Hearts as the best performance of his reign: 'We should've won by more'

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Neil Lennon praised his Hibs players for the best performance of his Easter Road reign after they emerged victorious from the first top-flight Edinburgh derby since 2014.

And he believes the midfield pairing of John McGinn and Dylan McGeouch, who powered his team to victory, are playing as well as anyone in Scotland at the moment.

The newly-promoted Easter Road club could have won by more than just Simon Murray’s early strike, according to former Celtic boss Lennon, who declared: ‘I’ m very, very happy. You know me, it takes a lot to make me happy!

Neil Lennon says Hibernian put in one of the best derby performances he has ever witnessed

‘The first half was perfect, in terms of intensity and pace; maybe only Celtic could live with that.

‘The scoreline flatters Hearts. We were thoroughly dominant.

‘I’ve been involved in a lot of derbies - and that is as good as any in terms of feeling. We came through it brilliantly.

‘I think we should have won by more. At 1-0, I said to them they might score from a set play, deflection, anything. But it’s great to have a clean sheet.’

Asked if he expected more from Hearts, Lennon insisted: ‘That’s down to us. We forced the game. We pressed them, made them make mistakes.

‘I can only be very vocal about a very special performance, as good as I’ve seen here. There’s a rawness about the derby. You can see how much it means to them.

‘I think we’ve played well against Celtic away, Aberdeen here, Celtic in semi-final. We haven’t been far away. So I’m very happy with how things going.

‘We were light, as well – we lost Anthony Stokes, Danny Swanson, we don’t’ have Darren McGregor or Liam Fontaine. But the players out there did the club proud.’

Hibernian's Simon Murray scored the only goal of the game early on to seal the victory

Murray, making his first start in over a month, took just two minutes to bag a first goal since August – earning himself hero status among the Hibs faithful.

Lennon said: ‘It’s a great finish. He’s been champing at the bit, a bit off colour in the last few games.

‘Seeing Oli Shaw coming on at weekend gave him shot in arm. And he responded.

‘But we had great players all over the park. The two wingers were fantastic. Brandon Barker was incredible.

‘The three midfielders were great. We know what Marvin Bartley does in there. Dylan McGeouch and John McGinn are as good as anyone in the country at the minute.

‘Dylan’s football was unbelievable tonight. The one where he dinked it over someone and played in a great ball, that’s priceless. The two of them break the lines brilliantly. That’s a real talent in itself.

‘Dylan’s work rate and physicality have improved. We’re getting the best out of him.

‘It’s the injury problems. He would be in and out with hamstring problems. But a new specialist seems to have got to bottom of it. He’s playing wonderful football.’

Murray was making his first full start for Hibs in over a month but looked fully fit

Lennon believes Harry Cochrane could have been sent off for a bad foul on John McGinn

Lennon said he thought young Hearts midfielder Harry Cochrane could have walked for a professional foul on McGinn, explaining: ‘Yeah. There is no intention to play the ball, just trying to take John out.

‘It’s a cynical professional foul. There was a lot going on. The foul count is double. In the main, though, the ref had a decent game.’

Having now failed to beat Hibs in the last seven meetings across all competitions, the defeat under the lights came as another blow.

‘It’s a sore one,’ said Craig Levein. 

‘I’m disappointed, which you would obviously expect but I’m more disappointed that we turned up with the right attitude – but just didn’t play.

‘That has disappointed the players, as well. I’m pleased with the effort they put in but we didn’t pass the ball well enough and never really got a grip of the game.’