Hibernian out to 'put right' Scottish Cup final hammering to Hearts, says Tom Taiwo

As if it was not ignominious enough for Hibernian not to have won the Scottish Cup since 1902 and to have been battered 5-1 by Hearts when the pair met in May in the first Edinburgh derby final since 1896, there is now also the danger of being incorporated in another pub quiz question.

Hibernian out to 'put right' Scottish Cup final hammering to Hearts, says Tom Taiwo

By Roddy Forsyth

Should Pat Fenlon’s players lose at home when the teams meet in the fourth round of the same tournament on Sunday, Hibs will have been beaten by Hearts in the Scottish Cup twice in the same year.

“It doesn’t sound too good, does it?” said Tom Taiwo, the Hibs midfielder. “We want to put it right.

“It’s a new team and a team with a new ethic and a new way of working, as you’ve seen through the results and the performances. Hopefully that will continue on Sunday.”

Taiwo joined Hibs from Carlisle in September as part of Pat Fenlon’s reconstruction of the squad following the humiliation at Hampden Park.

“I watched the highlights and it wasn’t great,” he said. “Whenever I’ve watched Hibs in the past they’ve always turned in a decent display, good attacking football.

“Unfortunately that wasn’t the case that day. We’ll hope to put that right on Sunday.”

Fenlon has stated that he has never watched the final again, on the grounds that there is nothing he can learn in respect of the football, or lack of it, produced by his side that day and, in any case, the clearout he supervised means that only four of the players who experienced the trauma in May are likely to see actionon Sunday – Paul Hanlon, Jorge Claros, Lewis Stevenson and Leigh Griffiths – with five of those who started that day having left the club.

Taiwo, who spent time at Leeds and Chelsea, has been warned by his team-mates that the Easter Road ambience will be exceptional on Sunday.

“I’ve just been told the atmosphere’s going to be electric,” he said. “There’s going to be no prisoners taken. It’s going to be a tough, hard-working game and we’re going to have to win the battle before we can get the ball down and start to play.

“It’s all about discipline, especially when you’re under this intense scrutiny like on Sunday. You’ve got to be even more alert to things that could rile you on certain weeks and turn in a disciplined performance and one that gets you the win.”

Hibs were unconvincing but summoned enough character to beat St Johnstone 1-0 in Perth on Wednesday and stay within a point of Celtic at the top of the SPL table. “The attention turned to putting right what we did wrong on Wednesday night and putting in an even stronger performance to hopefully get the win against Hearts,” Taiwo said. “We were very pleased with the win on Wednesday night, even if it wasn’t a brilliant performance.”

On the same evening, Hearts were steamrollered by Celtic, who left Tynecastle with a 4-0 victory to keep themselves ahead of Hibs. However, John McGlynn, the Hearts manager, chose to shift attention to Hearts’ recent superiority in the capital derby – they go into this match unbeaten by Hibs in 12 meetings – and declared that he wants his side to surpass the record of 22 derbies without defeat, set in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“It’s a derby game. In any season, in any situation, it’s a massive game,” said McGlynn. “Sometimes it goes in cycles. We’re going to try to make it 13 on Sunday and on Jan 3 we’ll try to make it 14. If you’re a football player you want to try to beat that 22 so you’ve got a record. It’s as simple as that.”

Aware of the disparate league positions of the contenders – Hearts are ninth in the SPL table – McGlynn preferred to concentrate on Hibs’ inability to win the Scottish Cup since 1902 and his own side’s status as defenders of the trophy. “We are the holders and because of that we want to keep a hold of it,” he said.

“That gives us extra motivation, not necessarily pressure – I think the pressure is on Hibs. You have to move on and you have to play this game on its merits.

“It’s a different scenario altogether from the Cup final. We have to make sure we’re not caught up in the past, we have to learn from the past, but we have to play this particular game and not get caught up too much in the occasion.”

Injuries have struck both sides and Hibs are without James McPake, Tom Clancy and Gary Deegan, Hearts lost Jason Holt in midweek and Dylan McGowan is also a doubt with a hip injury for a tie that will require bodies at full strength and minds similarly tuned.

Taken from telegraph.co.uk