Henry Smith and Wayne Foster feel old club have edge

By STUART BATHGATE
Published on Saturday 19 May 2012 00:00

WAYNE Foster scored the goals at one end and Henry Smith kept them out at the other. Together for Hearts they enjoyed a period of unprecedented domination over Hibernian, and both men will be at Hampden today hoping to see their successors in maroon extend their current unbeaten run to 11 games.

“I think the record Hearts have got can work in their favour,” Smith said. “It’s ten games and the Hibs players might think ‘What do we have to do to beat this mob?’

“In my day we went 22 games and that gave us a psychological advantage, no question about that. In the tunnel we would be cranking it up: we had guys standing there shouting at the opposition.

“Things like that can give you an edge, and I would be surprised if some of the more senior Hearts players don’t try stuff like that.

“I can see the likes of Marius Zaliukas and Ian Black getting involved. That’s just two of them – we had four or five getting involved. We had guys like Gary Mackay, big Craig Levein, John Colquhoun and John Robertson giving it out. Hearts have the uppper hand in the recent games, so they should be emphasising that.”

The goalkeeper and Foster played together in the latter’s most celebrated game for Hearts – the 2-1 Scottish Cup win in 1994 which stretched their unbeaten run in the derby to 21 matches. The best part of two decades on, Foster is still lauded by the Hearts support for that goal, so he has an inkling of what the winning scorer today will be in for.

“The guy who scores the winner in this one will have an unbelievable shock coming,” he said. “You’re talking to me 18 years after I scored a goal that, okay, is remembered – but it was nothing like the first all- Edinburgh cup final in over a hundred years.

“This is going to be mega. It’s going to be fantastic for the person whoever achieves that.

“I still live in the city, and people are still trying to buy my drinks just for that goal. So the person who does it in this one will have all that.

“Hopefully whoever scores will have a daft celebration like Craig Beattie’s in the semi-final against Celtic. That was a superb celebration. That is what people do when they score important goals in big games, they lose the plot.

“It was fantastic, not just if you are a Hearts fan but if you are a fan of sport. The enjoyment on his face was priceless.”

Like Smith, Foster is convinced that Hearts are a better team, but he warned that Hibs will never have more desire to win than they will do this afternoon.

“From the Hearts point of view, everyone should be fairly confident that they’ve got more than enough to win this game. But, because Hibs haven’t had a good time for a few years now, they’ve got this one game to get their hands on the Scottish Cup – that’s a great incentive.”

Taken from the Scotsman