RAE LOVES RELIVING HIS WINNER FOR THE HIBEES

IT might be 27 years since Gordon Rae netted a cup winner for Hibs against Hearts but he still remembers every moment of it.

Now he wants the current Easter Road squad to create their own magic moments in Sunday's Scottish Cup semi-final against the Tynecastle side.

Rae, now manager at Lothian Junior League side Tranent, hit the winning the goal the last time Hibs beat Hearts in a Scottish Cup tie in February, 1979.

He has never tired of reliving the strike and even spent time on training pitches recreating the goal - to wind up any of his players who had Hearts' allegiances.

He said: "For some reason, an orange ball was used in the cup tie at Easter Road and I'm not quite sure why that was.

"Manager Eddie Turnbull had given me the job of marking Drew Busby as he was Hearts' main danger man at the time.

"I was played in midfield that day and we had some really good creative players in the team at the time such as Ralph Callachan, Ally MacLeod and Des Bremner and, more often than not, I was given the donkey work to do.

"But I didn't mind at all as it released the other players to go and do their thing. I stuck close to Drew in the first half and it finished 0-0.

"But he was substituted by Graham Shaw at half-time and that gave me more freedom. George Stewart had given us the lead early in the second half and then we won a corner.

"The ball broke to me at the "D" at the edge of the box and I swung at it with my left foot - the one I used for standing on - and caught it on the half-volley and it flew past John Brough.

"I knew Broughie well from the time we'd played in the juvenile ranks so the goal gave me a lot of pleasure.

"Derek O'Connor scored for Hearts late on but by then we had the game won.

"People still talk about the goal and the funny thing was that when I was manager of Gala Fairydean, we had an orange ball at the club.

"We used to try to recreate the goal in training to wind up the Hearts' fans in the team and they used to give me a hard time as I could never quite get it right.

"But I told them I got it right when it mattered and that was enough for me!"

Rae was also on target in the cup semi-final against Aberdeen that season to set up a final clash with Rangers and the chance to win the cup for the first time since 1902. He said: "Against Aberdeen, it was my first appearance at Hampden and I played up front with Colin Campbell.

"We were 1-0 down and I managed to get the equaliser and we went on to win 2-1. But I remember Joe Harper, who was on fire for Aberdeen that season, missing a late chance from just a yard out.

"I remember thinking it could be our year in the cup but unfortunately we lost to Rangers after a second replay.

"Not much was said at the time that it had been so long since we had won the trophy and it is only really in recent years that 1902 has been mentioned so much in the media.

"Hopefully, Hibs can finally do it this year but the semi-final is too close to call and you have to expect the unexpected in the Scottish Cup.

"Who knows how Hearts will be affected by all that has happened in the past week? It can work against them but it can also bring the dressing room together, you just never know with football players."

Taken from the Daily Record