Mowbray calls on players to go out and create history

Tony Mowbray wants those achievements to be nudged out of the picture, for a while at least, by his own players. The Hibernian manager yesterday called on his team to go out and seize their own piece of history on Sunday at Hampden Park by reaching the Tennent’s Scottish Cup final at the expense of rivals Heart of Midlothian.

Mowbray has only been at Easter Road for two seasons but that’s long enough to test the temperature of the water around Leith when it comes to putting a price on Scottish Cup success. It is the holy grail for the club’s fans. It is now 104 years since their last triumph, in 1902, and that sorry, and perenially-adjusted, statistic is as much a source of bragging rights across Edinburgh as it is a source of discontent among the Hibernian supporters.

Not even the greatest Hibernian side of all, who where champions of Scotland three times in five seasons between 1948 and 1952 and went to the last four of the inaugural European Cup in 1956, managed to win the Scottish Cup. If the Famous Five — the nickname for the five international forwards Hibernian fielded in that era — could not do it, what chance has Mowbray’s callow side, deprived of possibly the four best players this season in Garry O’Connor, Derek Riordan, Scott Brown and Guillamue Beuzelin?

O’Connor, of course, has been sold to Lokomotiv Moscow for £1.6 million since his goals secured a 5-1 win over Falkirk in the quarter-finals. The other top scorer, Riordan, is suspended while Beuzelin’s season was ended by injury and Brown broke his leg in the fourth-found victory over Rangers at Ibrox in February.

In terms of timing, nothing favours Hibernian right now. However, Mowbray wants his players to prove that theory wrong. “It’s been over a century since we have won the cup but I think that’s a positive thing for this group of players,” Mowbray reflected. “It’s a chance for these players to go down in the history books as the first Hibernian team to lift the cup in 104 years.

“I think it is necessary for this group to win something and create their own legend at this club. I want them to join the Famous Five and Turnbull Tornadoes (the side managed by Eddie Turnbull, in the early 1970s that contained Pat Stanton, Peter Cormack and Alex Cropley). I want their names to roll off the tongues of fans 20 years from now, the way the older players do now at Easter Road.

“I am always respectful of the past but I want to win the Scottish Cup and set us off on the road to the future. What an achievement that would be, especially in an era where there is now a chasm between the Old Firm and other teams in Scotland.”

Mowbray may not have been at Easter Road long, but it has been long enough to grasp that the club has a history of near-misses like few others in Scotland. Last season, his side lost the semi-final to a relegation-threatened Dundee United; the year before, Bobby Williamson saw his Hibernian team lose the CIS Insurance Cup final to Livingston. Alex McLeish suffered Scottish Cup semi-final defeat to the worst Aberdeen side ever in 2000, before reaching the final in 2001 only to run up against a Celtic team en route to its first Treble in 32 years. “I want the players to use last year’s negative experience against Dundee United to their advantage,” Mowbray insisted. “I want them to know how powerful the emotion of defeat can be.”

Mowbray must be tempted to give Brown a dramatic return to action. The young Scotland midfield player has recovered well from his broken tibia and, in truth, Hibernian have been nothing like the side they were that day at Ibrox when Brown limped off after 60 minutes with a 3-0 win over the holders already secured.

“Scott has been out for eight weeks and I would not rule him in or out,” Mowbray said. “However, if he is at Hampden at all, it will be on the bench. I would not take any chances with a player who has been out with a broken leg. I will not endanger his fitness. Whether he is playing or not, Scott is the sort who lifts the dressing-room. We have missed his drive in midfield and he could be an impact player if he comes off the bench.

“Spirit is something that reverberates around our dressing-room. Players like Ivan Sproule, who cannot wait for this game to come around. He wants to be a big-game player and is the type who will get past opponents. That is now expected of him week-in, week-out. I want him to relish the experience of going to Hampden, although we realise that no one has a divine right when they get there. The team that raises their game is the one that usually wins.”

Mowbray, of course, dug his heels in over the choice of Hampden as the venue for the first all-Edinburgh semi-final in almost a century. While Hearts and most of public opinion in the capital touted Murrayfield as the best neutral venue to allow everyone to see the game, the Hibernian manager insisted that football’s national stadium had to be used, an opinion that was endorsed by the SFA.

“I just hope that it is an occasion that is worthy of the anticipation that surrounds this this game,” Mowbray said. “I prefer Hampden but I don’t think it is going to make any difference to Hearts where it is played. The players they have are used to a unique environment at Tynecastle but they have plenty of international players who are used playing on different stages.”

The last Edinburgh derby was a salutary experience for Mowbray. Hibernian lost four goals at Tynecastle in January, just as they did on their visit there last August. Sandwiched in between was a 2-1 win at Easter Road in October.

“We should not be taken by surprise about anything involving Hearts,” he said. “Paul Hartley will make driving runs from midfield while Edgaras Jankauskas is very direct up front. How do we stop it? That’s the question. We can only hope it is like the game at Easter Road.”

Mowbray knows that Gary Caldwell, Kevin Thomson and Sproule could easily succumb to the same fate as Riordan on Sunday. All are within one booking of missing out on the final on May 13 if Hibernian win. “It is frustrating for Derek because he might only pick up three bookings all season but the two in the cup have cost him a massive game,” Mowbray said. “That’s frustrating for us but we’ve got to accept it, there’s no point moaning because we knew the criteria.

“However, if any of those other three players pick up another booking, then they would be even more devastated than Derek, at least he would have the opportunity to play in the final if we got there. However, I’m sure they will forget it and won’t be holding anything back because everybody will be committed to the cause on both sides. If they do get booked, then it would obviously be disappointing, but it’s something they’ve got to put aside for 90 minutes.”

Not surprisingly, Mowbray’s reflection on this unique day in Scottish football, the first all-Edinburgh derby at the new Hampden in front of a sell-out 50,000 audience, was historical. “The last 104 years have nothing to do with me,” the Hibernian manager said. “I can only give it my best shot in 2006. If that is enough on Sunday, it will get us to the final.”