DAVID WOTHERSPOON is the perfect embodiment of the notion that good things often come to those who wait. A regular in the Hibernian set-up after moving there as a young man, he was left out of the 2012 Scottish Cup final team despite having played in every previous round – a blessing in disguise, some would say – and then again a year later having featured in every round up until the quarter-final, even scoring the winner in a derby tie against Hearts.

Leaving Hibs for St Johnstone in the summer of 2013, he could well have been forgiven for thinking his chances of lifting a major trophy had passed by. His boyhood heroes, of course, had never won a domestic cup throughout their history. And yet, a mere 10 months later and here was Wotherspoon parading the Scottish Cup around Celtic Park after helping his new team defeat Dundee United in the final. Funny how things work out.

St Johnstone and Wotherspoon now have designs on adding the League Cup to their fairly short honours list. Standing in their way in tomorrow’s semi-final are Hibs although mild-mannered Wotherspoon ruled out the notion that this in some way serves as a revenge mission for previous cup final omissions.

“It’s not particularly special because it’s Hibs,” he shrugged. “It’s a semi-final. We are obviously out of the Scottish Cup so this is our main chance to win silverware. I still have a couple of pals who are still there, though. I still speak to Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon every so often. It’s been quiet this week mind you!

“There’s been a few changes at the club but it was like that when I was there. They have been building a lot this year and have a good squad. They are in a good position in the league. But it’s all about us at the weekend. It’s a one-off cup game and you need to beat the side that’s in front of you.”

You would imagine that those Hibs players who missed out on that infamous 5-1 thrashing by rivals Hearts in the 2012 final would view it in hindsight as something of a relief but Wotherspoon has no such feelings. His only solace is that he featured in the final at the third time of asking.

“It was brilliant [winning it with St Johnstone]. It was just what I wanted to happen, you couldn’t have written it any better for me. The two finals I missed out on would have been massive matches in my career. I’d still have wanted to play in those finals, even though they ended up as heavy defeats. You want to be playing in cup finals at Hampden. I was very thankful to make the final that we won. It was such a great day.”

Eight of the starting line-up from that 2014 success – as well as manager Tommy Wright – are still at St Johnstone, something Wotherspoon hopes will stand them in good stead ahead of this weekend’s challenge at Tynecastle.

“We’ve shown we can cross that hurdle and can beat any team on our day,” added the midfielder. “We need to go out and believe we can get to the final and that’s what we will be thinking this weekend. It would be a massive achievement to win another cup. We are more than capable of doing it.

“It would be huge for the club and for Perth. The club has always had decent cup runs, even from before I was here, getting to semis and finals. It was about getting over the line by winning a cup. We’ve done than now and hopefully we can win more. It was a dream come true for me. Going out in Perth and seeing all the faces and the streets flooded with people was a fantastic feeling. That’s what we want to achieve again.”

St Johnstone were left frustrated when their supporters were refused the extra ticket allocation they had been previously promised. It means there will be many more Hibs fans inside Tynecastle but Wotherspoon downplayed the significance.

“That doesn’t give them an advantage. They will have three stands and more supporters there so there will be more pressure on them throughout the game. We’ll be there with our supporters and I am sure they will be in good voice. It will be a cracking game.”