After 50-year hiatus, capital rivals paired in League Cup

HIBS and Hearts have been drawn to play each other in the League Cup for the first time in 50 years and will meet in the quarter-finals at Easter Road in November.

The tie offers Tony Mowbray's side the chance of swift revenge following their 4-0 defeat in the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup by Hearts at Hampden last April.

Mowbray was still reeling from the tumultuous events surrounding Hibs' 1-0 defeat by Falkirk on Saturday when he was given news of the draw. He said: "At this moment I'm not too bothered about it. You get who you get as it comes out of the hat. OK we've got Hearts at home and we'll take care of it when the time comes and talk about it closer to the time."

John McGlynn, Hearts' assistant coach, told the club's website: "It is one to look forward to, but there are lots of games coming up so there is a lot for us to concentrate on before we head to Easter Road."

The match is the tie of the round and is likely to be screened live by BBC Scotland on either 7 or 8 November. Elsewhere, First Division St Johnstone have been rewarded for their third-round defeat of Dundee United with a lucrative game away to Rangers. Falkirk face the daunting task of a trip to Celtic in the quarter-finals while Motherwell have been paired with Kilmarnock at Rugby Park.

Hibs and Hearts have been drawn together twice previously in the League Cup. On both occasions it was during the section stage of the competition when clubs were drawn into groups of four, playing each other home and away.

Hearts won all four encounters, racking up 12 goals in the process. The first meetings came in 1947-48 when Hearts won both games 2-1. Over 43,000 attended the first game at Easter Road when a Hibs side which would go on to win the league title that season were undone by goals from Johnny Urquhart and Archie Kelly. The scoreline was repeated at Tynecastle three weeks later with Davie Laing and Kelly on target for Hearts.

Nine years later the clubs met again. Hearts, in the midst of a golden period, destroyed Hibs 6-1 in the first game at Tynecastle, then won 2-1 at Easter Road a fortnight later.

Taken from the Scotsman