Lennon and his club are already embroiled in a bitter war of words with the Scottish Football Association after the Hoops boss was handed a six-match touchline ban, a decision Celtic are appealing.

Tonight, a penalty in the last minute from Anthony Stokes secured a point for the SPL leaders after Simon Mensing had shocked their high-flying visitors by grabbing the opener for Hamilton.

In a match packed with drama, Mensing was sent off for conceding the spot-kick, after team-mate Jim McAlister and Celtic's James Forrest were both given straight red cards earlier in the game.

One of Lennon's complaints centred on the Hamilton goal, when Martin Canning appeared to be in an offside position and obstructing the view of goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

Asked about the referee's performance, Lennon said: "It's not good enough. My players were fine, they played well, I was happy with them, with their character.

"My only criticism is over-elaborating in the final third. We had acres of possession against a team who wanted to camp in all night, which is fine, that's their prerogative. That's fine by me.

"I just want the officials to do their jobs properly."

Asked if he believed it was a case of more than simply being a poor display from the official, Lennon replied: "You make your own mind up."

Celtic thought they had snatched victory deep into more than seven minutes of injury time when Stokes nodded home from an Emilio Izaguirre corner, which was deemed to have gone out of play.

Lennon said: "He said the ball went out of play. He has done very well to see that yet he didn't see Canning two yards offside for their goal.

"He is offside and goals change games. It gives Hamilton something to hold on to for the rest of the game.

"All you want is for the official to do his job. The player is in an offside position and he was blocking the goalkeeper's view.

"I actually blamed my goalkeeper at half-time, totally unjustly, because he couldn't see it, Canning was blocking his view. It's all right me banging on about referees but goals change games. We had a goal disallowed at the end but he seemed to see that one all right."

On Forrest's red card, he added: "I would give the referee the benefit of the doubt on that one, the linesman had a good view as well.

"It's all right for me to say that it's not in his nature to do that but I can see why he did give it. I can understand why the referee gave it."

But Lennon was furious that Niall McGinn was booked for diving late on, when he felt the player should have been awarded a penalty instead.

He said: "It's a penalty. Another game-changing incident. I think everyone in the ground thought it was a penalty.

"There was no contact with the ball. From what I've seen from the TV cameras, it was a penalty."

On his row with the SFA, Lennon said: "Do you think it's fair, a six-game ban for your first offence?

"I'm not going to comment. It's in the hands of the legal team at Celtic and we are appealing it so we will see the outcome of that."

Despite having two players sent off, Hamilton manager Billy Reid refused to criticise the referee.

He said: "There were so many decisions in the game. The one thing I will say is that Willie Collum is one of the top referees in Scotland and there is no way this manager will have a go at Willie Collum.

"Whatever decisions he makes, I stand by. How do you referee that game? There were so many contentious decisions and it's not an easy job. I think he's a top referee."

And the Accies boss insists his side more than merited their point.

He added: "I remember the first 70 minutes but I don't remember the last 20 minutes because there was so much happening.

"There were seven minutes and 22 seconds of injury time as well which is quite incredible. I thought we had lost the game, I thought Celtic had scored, so we got a wee break there.

"I thought the effort and endeavour of the players was fantastic. Over the last six or seven occasions against Celtic and Rangers, I thought we deserved something. With the effort we put in tonight, we deserved it."