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Hibs defender Lewis Stevenson admits he spent last week’s entire bus journey from Aberdeen trying to avoid eye contact with fuming boss Neil Lennon.
Lennon let rip with a ferocious post-match rant at his players inside the Pittodrie dressing room after seeing his team collapse to a 4-1 defeat.
And long-serving full-back Stevenson insists the former Celtic manager was just as angry during the 130-mile trip back to the capital because he watched a re-run of the game on his lap-top.
Stevenson knows there will be no hiding place for the team when they bid to make amends against Ross County this afternoon, but concedes he did his best to avoid Lennon’s attention on the bus.
He said: “The manager said he was hard on us but, frankly, we deserved it, it was our poorest performance since he has been manager and I had that suspicion walking in after the game that there would be a backlash, even at half-time – which we got.
“You can tell by the performance, we did deserve a bit of a rollicking and we got it.
“The trip back home was tough too. He was watching the game again and he had that angry look when he’s watching it, quite rightly because it was our poorest performance.
“He was watching it on a laptop and I’m not that far from him, I was slumping down as far as possible on my seat to try and stay out of eye contact.
“But he’s a passionate man and passionate about his job, he loves his team to bits and wants us to do well.”
As things stand, Lennon has given his players two days rest following the County match, despite a trip to fierce rivals Hearts looming on Wednesday.
Stevenson is planning to make the most of a rare Christmas Day off with the family, including son Louie and daughter Luna.
He added: “Sometimes you need a bit of rest and recuperation. And seeing each other ten days’ straight, you sometimes need a break from the boys, as well.
“There’s only so much John McGinn you can take.
“It’s special spending time with the family. There have been a few Christmases that have been a write-off because of games.”
Stevenson is likely to be roped into games against his son on FIFA, even though he will be reminded about his woeful personal ratings on the popular video game.
He added: “The wee man is into FIFA, anything to do with football, he’s right into.
“Let’s see what Santa brings him – he might get lucky.
“But my FIFA ratings are terrible.
“That’s the most disappointed he’s ever been in me, when he saw that I was the worst player in the Hibs team.
“He was so excited because Hibs hadn’t been in it for a few years.
“So this is the first time he’s had the game with Hibs in the Premiership.
“It was a real embarrassing dad moment when he saw how bad I was on FIFA.
“He’s telling me my shooting stats and speed stats. I thought I might be all right with speed – but even they were terrible.
“I need to find the guy who does these. Because every game he’s done in the past, I’ve been terrible. He must have a bone to pick with me.”
Hibs head coach Lennon, whose side have won only one Premiership match in their last six outings, said: “Sometimes when you play so many games in a short period of time – if you’re a betting man you’d keep your money in your pocket.
“We just want to find consistency again. The Celtic and Rangers games showed us in a great light – if we can replicate that level of performance and intensity we should be in for a good couple of results again.”
