John: "We have belief"

30.11.2012

John McGlynn has dismissed talk of his team being under pressure in Sunday's William Hill Scottish Cup 4th Round match with Hibs.

The Jambos travel across the city for a replay of the 2012 Final and the gaffer knows that, while league form is polar opposites, the current cup holders know exactly how to approach this game.

Speaking to the press this morning at Riccarton, John said: "We are the holders and we want to keep a hold of it. That gives us extra motivation, not necessarily pressure.

"The pressure is possibly on Hibs. It's a good few years now since they won it, and we've won it twice fairly recently and three times in a slightly longer period of time.

"It's the local rivalry. Banter always comes into it so it's always nice to have one up on them, that's how it would be if things were reversed.

"The bookies can't separate us. That's incredible, is it not? I think that's fair, given it's a derby. However, formbook would suggest that Hibs are going along very well and flying, and we have been inconsistent. That's possibly why it's so hard to split, because people know that if we play well we're a match for anyone.

"We have the belief to go down to Easter Road and win."

John is well aware of the psychological advantage of winning the 2012 Final 5-1 and going 12 games unbeaten in the derby.

"I think if you've won a cup then that's an advantage to you," he said. "I think there's an extra confidence and belief and that's good to have in you as a person, knowing you've actually done it and won it.

"We're very happy that we're in a cycle of 12 wins in a row and we're going to try and make it 13 and then in January we're going to try and make it 14.

"That's how it goes and that's how it works. If you're a footballer player you want to try and beat that 22 in a row record, that's how football works."

John may have to make the short trip across the city without two of his talented youngster as Dylan McGowan and Jason Holt both had to be substituted off against Celtic with injury, though he's giving the duo every chance to make it.

"Immediately Dylan was really struggling, but overnight into Thursday morning there's been a really good recovery," he stated. "It's very difficult for me to say how long he'll be out for as he's had another 24 hours to recover and he's made good progress. It's hard to tell if 6 to 8 weeks becomes a week or two weeks or if he'll play on Sunday.

"It's very similar with Jason. He would be two to three weeks with a strained ankle ligaments injury.

"Unless the two of them continue to make a remarkable recovery in a short period of time I would probably expect the both of them to be out."

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