Hibernian head coach Neil Lennon was scathing in criticism of his players as they lost their Scottish Cup semi-final 3-2 to Aberdeen.

The holders went 1-0 down to Aberdeen within seconds of kick-off when Adam Rooney scored and Ryan Christie doubled the Dons' lead before a Grant Holt-inspired fightback brought Hibs level. A heavily-deflected Jonny Hayes shot settled the tie with just minutes to go but that bad luck didn't change Lennon's opinion of his players.

"Don't commiserate, it wasn't good enough," he said. "We didn't turn up for 30 minutes then for the next 60 we were the better team by a long way, we scored two wonderful goals.

"But you can't give any team a two-goal start in a semi-final.

"We got it back, the game could have gone either way but Aberdeen they got a huge slice of luck for their winning goal, it happens. But my players need to have a good look at themselves.

"I don't mind conceding a goal after one minute because you have 89 to get back in. But we didn't show any responsibility.

"Two players did, Marvin Bartley and Dylan McGeough. The rest looked like the boy band they've been over the last three or four years.

"It was a semi-final, the pitch was good. We have been playing on quagmires all season. But it was pathetic. Utterly pathetic."

Lennon took the decision to replace Fraser Fyvie with Holt after half an hour, prompting a displeased reaction from the midfielder but the manager wasn't upset with his response, saying the other players had let him down.

"He got thrown under the bus by the rest," he said. "I had to sacrifice somebody. It could have been four or five of them, it just happened to be Fraser, so the rest owe him a huge apology."

In the dying moments of the game, goalkeeper Ofir Marciano went up for a corner and almost scored a dramatic equaliser with a header that Joe Lewis saved. Lennon wasn't interested in praising the late efforts to force Aberdeen to extra time.

"Coulda, woulda shoulda," he said. "Gallant losers are losers. Forget it.

"You all know me, I am not interested. He's headed it and someone should have got across the keeper to get a touch."