ALAN Stubbs admits his side will be favourites in some quarters to land the League Cup now but reckons his side have proved beyond doubt that they have the bottle to handle it. Laughing off suggestions from Ross County's Martin Woods that he had inspired the Highlanders to reach the showpiece by writing off their semi-final chances against Celtic, Stubbs revealed that he would savour the chance to lock horns again with an old coaching course buddy in the form of County boss Jim McIntyre. The fact it is the Highlanders, and not Celtic, waiting in the final also means that on-loan duo Anthony Stokes and Liam Henderson will be able to play.
"I’m sure some people will have us down as favourites but I know Jim really well," said Stubbs. "We did our Pro Licence together and I know it will be just as tough as St Johnstone were.
"Jim and Billy will be thinking they will be able to cause us problems, but I think we will be able to cause them problems too," he added. "It will be intriguing, exciting - two teams trying to win a cup final and having a genuine belief that they can win it as well. We are delighted we can involve them [Henderson and Stokes] in the final. They bring a lot of quality to the table and it would be a shame if they couldn't have been involved.
"Since I’ve come here the team and previous teams have had the label of being ‘bottlers’," the Englishman added. "It’s something I wouldn’t like to be labelled with. It’s just about breaking barriers, getting that perception completely wiped away and, slowly but surely, we are starting to do that. The question was asked in the press conference the other day. It’s a semi-final. Are Hibs going to bottle it? But they’ve done their talking on the pitch so there’s the answer."
While Hibs are in the final of one cup, and have the small matter of a William Hill Scottish Cup showdown with Hearts on Sunday in the other, Stubbs insists Tuesday night's visit to Cappielow is the biggest priority. "Our main focus is to go up this year, promotion," he said. "It has been, still is and always will be."
Stubbs expects Hibs to bring in excess of 25,000 fans for the final on March 13 but insisted he had never been disrespectful to County's chances. "I know Martin because I was with him at Sunderland with him so I will see him again soon," he said.
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