Hibs shake themselves into life'¦ even without their manager

Paul Hanlon celebrates his 76th-minute goal at Easter Road. Picture: Ross Parker/SNS

Neil Lennon's presence looms so menacingly over the Easter Road dressing room that he doesn't even have to be in it for his team to respond in a positive manner.

Typically, Saturday’s match against Partick Thistle would have been one of those days when the Hibernian squad would have received a forthright earbashing from their fiery head coach.

The hosts hadn’t performed at all in the first half. Barring winger Martin Boyle and goalkeeper Cammy Bell, who didn’t have much to do, every player in a green-and-white kit performed below their usual standards.

Trudging into the dressing room they were saved from Lennon’s fury by the manager’s touchline ban, handed down by the SFA following a tirade against Kevin Clancy in February’s 2-2 draw with Kilmarnock.

Instead, they gave themselves a good shake and, while they had to ride their luck with Partick Thistle having a goal disallowed for offside, they eventually managed to dig out the win.

“We knew ourselves that it was flat and below the standards that we’ve set,” said Paul Hanlon, who added a second five minutes after Jamie Maclaren’s opener. “It was just a case of lifting ourselves up. We’ve got a lot of boys saying their bit as well. There’s a number of them who are passionate about this club, passionate about winning and have that winning mentality.

“There’s plenty of experience in the changing room who can help when the manager is not there.”

The result moved Hibs to within four points of Rangers and Aberdeen in the battle for second place. Many would have been forgiven for scoffing at Lennon’s insistence that Hibs, still in the Championship at the time, could finish best of the rest behind Celtic this season. However, with matches against relegation strugglers Hamilton and Ross County before the split, they are undoubtedly a serious contender to nab the honour.

With Aberdeen travelling to Motherwell and Hearts, and Rangers having played a game more, Hibs must fancy their chances of closing the gap. To do so they must stay focused and not reproduce another performance like Saturday’s opening 45 minutes.

“The manager made the point about talking about the three fixtures before the split,” said Hanlon. “He knows that the bigger games take care of themselves but with this block of three we could drop our standards.”

Once the next two matches are out of the way it’ll be five consecutive battles against the elite of Scottish football, though Hanlon reckons they’ve got the perfect man in charge to help them take on such a pressurised run of fixtures.