Neil Lennon hopes Dunfermline grow in confidence after Hibernian cup upset

Dunfermline manager Neil Lennon hopes his players will find a new level of confidence after springing a Scottish Cup upset with a memorable 1-0 victory over Hibernian.

Miguel Chaiwa’s unfortunate stoppage-time own goal was the difference in a tight contest at a packed East End Park.

Chances were at a premium although the visitors were left to rue two good opportunities that fell to Kieron Bowie and Thibault Klidje in both halves.

And it was Dunfermline who eventually got the lucky break when Kieron Ngwenya’s header from a Matty Todd corner struck the back of Chaiwa before rolling into the net.

Lennon said: “We’ve taken a big scalp here and it should give the players a lot more belief in themselves and give them a taste of what could be in a club like this.

“We timed it perfectly at the end. I said to my coaches with half an hour to go I think this is a 1-0 game, so it could go either way. And thankfully for us it went our way.

“I thought our shape was good but I didn’t think we played as well as we could have done in the first half.

“At half-time we told them to play with a bit more positivity in the final third, a bit more belief.

“They had one great chance in the second half for the header and then the Bowie chance first half, so it was a game with limited of chances because I thought both teams sort of cancelled each other out really.”

Former Hibs boss Lennon also revealed he was given a pre-match boost at discovering opposite number David Gray had made four changes for the fourth round tie.

Skipper Joe Newell, Rocky Bushiri, Thibault Klidje and Junior Hoilett all came into the Hibs side, and Lennon said: “I think everyone had written us off.

“I thought they made a lot of changes. I thought, ‘OK, this might work in our favour’.

“I don’t know if Hibs took us lightly but I thought he was going to go strong to start with, but I’m not going to tell David what to do with his team.”

Hibs head coach Gray admitted his players had failed to deliver on the day.

He said: “I have tough decisions every single week and the 11 that goes on the pitch has got a responsibility to play at a certain level because the squad is then strong enough to come in off the back of it.

“Every player that gets the opportunity to play for this football club has got a responsibility to play to the best of their ability.

“Unfortunately, today we didn’t have enough that did.”