THEY are a young team led by a young manager who has spent little more than a season in charge of a club in his own right.

Yet, Hibs and Alan Stubbs know only too well about the acute pain of losing out in a cup semi-final – something which anyone who has ever played the game will tell you is even worse than actually being beaten in a final.

They reached the last four of the Scottish Cup last season and were strong favourites to defeat their Championship rivals Falkirk at Hampden.

The Easter Road club were by far the better team on the day and, with Scott Allan dictating play from the centre of midfield, battered their opponents relentlessly.

The capital club were, though, unable to score and when Craig Sibbald netted for Peter Houston’s charges in a counter attack with just 15 minutes of regulation time remaining they paid for that failing.

Allan has since departed and a few new faces have arrived - but many of those involved in that bitter disappointment will be in the starting line-up when Hibs take to the field to face St. Johnstone in the League Cup semi-final at Tynecastle this afternoon.

Stubbs, who rates fifth-placed Premiership club St. Johnstone highly, believes the chastening experience will prove invaluable in what promises to be a fascinating encounter between two sides with vastly-contrasting styles of play.

“I’ve got to be honest, I think the semi-final defeat last year could be a motivating factor,” he said. “We’ll be focused purely on this game. It’s a different match and another opportunity to get to another final.

“If we can it against Premiership opposition in St Johnstone it would, even though we know it will be a difficult game, be fantastic.”

Despite being in the second tier, Stubbs feels their top flight rivals could play to their strengths, attempt to sit back and contain them and then endeavour to net on the break through Michael O'Hallloran and others.

“We’ve seen them a number of times and they are well organised, experienced and have got some quality players in forward positions who can hurt teams on their day,” he said.

“They’ve certainly got the utmost respect from me. They are one of those teams that’s always in games. They don’t give a lot away.

“They’ll soak up a lot of pressure and will hit teams on the counter. We’ve just got to make sure we are 100 per cent on our jobs.”

Hibs have earned a few plaudits themselves for the manner in which they play the game this season and, with the majority of the crowd backing them, should prove difficult for St. Johnstone to overcome.

With Darren McGregor in defence they are reliable at the back, in midfield John McGinn has been outstanding for them and up front Jason Cummings is in a rich vein of form. Stubbs has no injuries and a full squad of players to choose from.

The arrival of Anthony Stokes on loan from Celtic has strengthened them even further at an opportune moment and the Republic of Ireland internationalist is sure to be involved at some stage in proceedings. Kevin Thomson, too, will not be overawed by the occasion if called upon.

Hibs have defeated Aberdeen, who, at the time, were on top of the Premiership after winning their opening eight games of the season, as well as Dundee United en route to the semi-final of this competition. They will certainly have no fears about tackling the club from a division above theirs.

Stubbs, who won the League Cup twice as a player with Celtic, feels those triumphs will be irrelevant today and has urged his charges to focus fully on the game in hand and their opponents.

“The victories over Aberdeen and Hibs won’t do them any harm, but how much relevance it has I’m not too sure,” he said. “All of those elements go out of the window. It’s two teams trying to get to a final irrespective of what divisions they are in.

“There’s a realism. It’s part of the package when you are wanting to win things. But that will only get you to a certain level. The most important thing is having quality.

“We’ve done pretty well in cup competitions. We got to the quarter-final of the League Cup last year and got knocked out by Dundee United on penalties. We got to the semi-final of the Scottish cup. We performed well but unfortunately it seemed to be one of those days. We’ve got to make sure on Saturday that it’s not one of those days.”