David Templeton ‘desperate’ to see fans celebrate again

Published on Saturday 19 May 2012 00:00

David Templeton has revealed how he is desperate to experience for himself the kind of wild celebrations that greeted Hearts the last time they scooped the Scottish Cup.

The 23-year-old was still a teenage prodigy plying his trade at Stenhousemuir in the Third Division back in 2006 but only months later was on his way to Tynecastle.

The winger has since had plenty of reminders of the raucous party that followed the open-top bus parade the day after Hearts’ penalty-kicks win over Second Division Gretna six years ago.

And the youngster is hopeful he can taste the revelry at first hand this time round by helping the Gorgie men to a historic success against city rivals Hibs this afternoon.

He said: “It’s massive. It’s obviously the biggest game I’ve been part of, especially with it being against our rivals, Hibernian. It’s massive for every player going into a Scottish Cup final against your bitter rivals and we are just looking to win it.

“It would be brilliant to bring the cup back to Gorgie. Obviously you want to see the fans happy.

“The last time you saw how many people turned up after Hearts won it. It was frightening and I want that to happen again, to see the fans celebrate.”

Templeton has had a season interrupted by injury, with a groin problem ruling him out for two months until his return last month, and it remains to be seen whether manager Paulo Sergio will name him in his starting XI.

However, despite the Tynecastle side going in as big favourites, the skilful forward - who scored a memorable derby goal in Hearts’ 2-0 win at Easter Road in 2010 - insists the outcome of the match is even more difficult to predict.

He added: “I always think form goes out the window for derbies. You can never tell what will happen in derbies.

“So, I don’t think many people will look at it as us being favourites. We’ll just go into the game to play our own game.”

Taken from the Scotsman