NEIL LENNON insisted Craig Levein’s remarks backfired following Hibs’ 2-0 victory over Hearts at Easter Road last night.
The Tynecastle boss claimed his team had restored “natural order” when they beat their Edinburgh neighbours for the first time in 10 games in the Scottish Cup in January.
Lennon, though, branded his city rivals “irrelevant” after his side moved 12 points above them in fourth place in the Premiership.
He watched with pride as on-loan Celt Scott Allan drilled in the opener just before the hour mark and Jamie Maclaren stroked in the killer second 10 minutes from time.
The Irishman said: “Hearts are irrelevant to us now. We are looking up the table rather than what’s behind us.
“Look, I don’t want to give soundbites and get into another verbal spat.
“You make these statements and they will always come back to haunt you at some stage. It’s come back to haunt them after four or five weeks.”
Lennon added: “We could have won the game by more. We have handled the psychology of a big game, again, very, very well.
“We have got the bragging rights back, for how long, who knows?
“But the gap is huge now between us and them and the gap on the pitch is huge, as well.”
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