HIBERNIAN and the Scottish Cup is the most enduring of unrequited love stories. An odyssey that has run into its 114th year is once more tantalisingly approaching a happy ending. Hibs are back in the final for the 11th time since 1902 and could finally get the chance to wrap their arms around the famous old trophy if they can beat Rangers at Hampden on May 21. It ought to be a long and loving embrace.
And yet there is a twist to this particular tale. Turns out the Scottish Cup isn’t the primary target for their affections this year after all. Hard as it seems to imagine, Hibs have set their sights on another. Automatic promotion having eluded them for a second successive season, Alan Stubbs’ side now need to try to navigate their way through the play-offs and win promotion that way. Another year outside of the top division would almost certainly have repercussions, both on their playing squad and their finances. It is why those with the club at heart believe that promotion rather than that long-awaited cup win should be the priority in the weeks ahead.
The penalty shoot-out victory over Dundee United in Saturday’s semi-final arrested a rather alarming slump in form that saw them drop out of a duel with Rangers for the title and leaves them facing possibly having to win three two-legged play-off ties to secure promotion. The hope from a Hibs’ perspective is that success at Hampden – where goalkeeper Conrad Logan became the unlikeliest of match-winning heroes – will beget further success in the league after a run of only one victory in their previous eight games. There should be no shortage of motivation, certainly, as Stubbs’ side enter the most significant period of this or any other recent season.
By a quirk of the football calendar it is Rangers who next stand in their way, the champions visiting Easter Road this evening on league duty for the fifth – and penultimate – meeting between the rivals this season. From Hibs’ point of view it has become just as significant as their date at Hampden next month.
“It’s nice to have the cup final waiting in the background,” said Pat Stanton, the erstwhile Hibs manager and a legendary figure around Easter Road. “But my main concern now is the league position. That’s the main one. We’ve been waiting for what feels like forever for a Scottish Cup win but I think promotion has become the most important thing. Hibs need to get back into the top league again so I think that has to be the priority, starting with this next game against Rangers.
“Hibs’ confidence has taken a wee bit of a thump recently. Most teams have runs like that and you try to find a way out of it any way you can. And that’s what they have to do as they need to start getting points on board and try to get second place. Hibs’ season looks like all coming down to the last week with the cup final and hopefully the play-off final so it should certainly be exciting. Every game has become like a cup final for them now.”
“I think Hibs will get a massive boost just from reaching the cup final,” added former striker and lifelong Hibs fan, Keith Wright. “They can have that to look forward to and hopefully the players will now raise their game as they’ll want to be involved in all these big matches coming up. If they can get back to their early season form it could end up being one of the best seasons ever for Hibs. But it’s a fine line and it could go either way at this point.
“Another year in the Championship would be very costly on the back of the big push to go up this year. So there are some really big games coming up. Rangers at Easter Road [tonight] is just as important now as the cup final as they really need to go up this year.”
A sense of enmity has grown between Hibs and Rangers over the course of the season. It started with the transfer wrangle involving Scott Allan, spilled into Mark Warburton’s first game as Rangers manager – when they beat Hibs 6-2 in the Petrofac Training Cup – and continued through the rest of the campaign. The latest chapter will be penned this evening and, although it is in effect a meaningless game for Rangers, Stanton does not expect it to be any easier for Hibs.
“I don’t think tonight’s game will have any bearing on the cup final as these teams have become very familiar with each other over the season,” he added. “Rangers never take their foot off the gas as they’re expected to win every game they play so Hibs won’t get it easy. The rivalry between the two teams has been interesting this season but I think it’s been healthy. It looked like they would go head-to-head all year for the title until Hibs faltered. But there is still a lot up for grabs and the Hibs players have to respond to that.”
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