DERBY CLASH THE BIGGEST EVER - LOCKE

Hearts coach Gary Locke has acknowledged Saturday's William Hill Scottish Cup final against rivals Hibernian at Hampden as the biggest Edinburgh derby of all time.

It is the first time the two capital clubs have played each other in the Scottish Cup final since 1896, and Locke, along with every football fan in the east of Scotland, is anticipating a day to remember.

"I have been involved in some massive games as a player but certainly this is the biggest as a player or a coach," the former Hearts skipper told Press Association Sport.

"It has never happened in my lifetime and possibly may never happen again in my lifetime, that shows you the magnitude of the game.

"After we managed to beat Celtic in the semi-final everyone knew the final would be against Hibs and the whole city is buzzing about it.

"It is two massive clubs with huge fan bases all going through to Hampden to have a great day and hopefully it is us who are celebrating at the end."

The Jambos, who will go into the match favourites, have enjoyed their share of luck on the road to Hampden.

Defender Jamie Hamill scored an injury-time equaliser from the penalty spot in the fifth-round replay at St Johnstone before the Tynecastle side went on to win in extra time.

Jamie MacDonald saved a penalty from Graham Carey in the quarter-final replay win at St Mirren and striker Craig Beattie scored a last minute penalty to dump former club Celtic in the semi-final at Hampden.

However, Locke is keen to quash any notion of Hearts' name being on the cup.

He said: "We have had one or two breaks but I think any team that gets to the cup final needs that.

"We got a last-minute penalty at St Johnstone and Jamie pulled off a great save for the penalty at St Mirren, these are the types of things that need to go for you in cup competitions and fortunately for us that has been a case.

"Hibs will be tough opponents, well organised but hopefully we can go into the game and play our own style of football and if the players do that then hopefully we have enough to win the trophy."

Locke was club captain when Hearts won the Scottish Cup in 1998, beating Rangers at Celtic Park, but injury prevented him playing.

Now he is preparing to watch as his boyhood heroes battle for silverware once again.

"As a coach you can obviously only do so much," he said. "When you are a player you can do something about it. We will try to get them organised as much as we can this week but come three o'clock, it is not up to us, it is up to the players.

"We are just hoping that we can get them as focused and prepared and hopefully they can put in a performance for us."

Taken from sportinglife.com