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Morton striker Kudus Oyenuga has sensationally been cleared of the dive cheat charge that saw Neil Lennon brand him a coward.

The Englishman was accused of feigning injury from a head butt to get Hibs captain Darren McGregor sent off as last Wednesday’s Championship clash at Easter Road ended in a mass melee.

Oyenuga, who was red carded on the night for a dangerous tackle on Jordon Forster that sparked the bust up, will still be suspended for this Saturday’s powderkeg return clash of the clubs at Cappielow.

But he was expected to face an additional retrospective charge for simulation over the incident with McGregor that followed when the Hibs skipper took issue with his challenge.

(Image: SNS)

However, having reviewed video footage SFA Compliance Officer Tony McGlennan has decided Oyenuga has no case to answer to issue a notice of complaint.

He judged there is insufficient evidence to charge him with a breach of disciplinary rule 201, causing a match official to make an incorrect decision by committing an act of simulation.

Hibs - for now at least - are staying silent while they await a decision on their appeal against McGregor’s red card, which is due to be considered by a three man SFA Disciplinary Panel on Thursday.

But with the strength of Lennon’s condemnation of Oyenuga in two stormy press conferences last week, it’s likely the war of words will erupt again if McGregor is not cleared of his head butt charge.

The Hibees boss described Oyenuga’s behaviour “embarrassing”, “an act of cowardice” and claimed he would never play for his team again if he was his manager.

Lennon also compared it to an incident in 2009 when striker Kyle Lafferty was fined by Rangers and handed a retrospective two-match ban by the SFA after feigning a head butt and getting Charlie Mulgrew sent off during a game against Aberdeen.

But McGlennan has not seen enough in the video evidence to convince him 100 percent that Oyenuga deliberately feigned injury to con referee Nick Walsh.

However, an SFA source told Record Sport that does not automatically mean that McGregor’s appeal will now be kicked out as a result of the Oyenuga verdict. If his red card is upheld he will face an immediate two match ban, starting with Saturday’s game in Greenock.

(Image: REUTERS/Russell Cheyne)

Compliance Officer McGlennan is not finished yet, however, as he considers what further action is appropriate regarding the other people involved in the mass touchline bust-up.

Morton boss Jim Duffy, his assistant Craig McPherson and Lennon are likely to face further action for their involvement in the fallout when they had to be separated. Although Lennon has strenuously denied any wrong-doing, insisting that Duffy and his Cappielow camp are entirely to blame for encroaching into his technical area in an aggressive manner.

McGlennan will take his time on that decision as it does not fall within the strict deadlines imposed on Fast Track disciplinary issues such as red cards and simulation.