THERE have been umpteen meetings and conversations among the Hibs players this week and only one common theme: it can't happen again.

When their captain, James McPake, confronted his men, he reminded them of the numbing grief of last season's Scottish Cup final defeat to Hearts. Did they need reminding? Well, that was 11 months ago, time moves on and squads are reshaped. The message McPake took it upon himself to relay was that they cannot let themselves and their supporters down against Falkirk in the semi-final today. "We've had numerous discussions this week and over the past few weeks of targets we want to set for the season," said the goalkeeper, Ben Williams. "James McPake spoke in depth, and truthfully, about how it felt last year and how he doesn't want to go through that again. The fans don't want it either and neither do the club and the management staff. It's something we are looking to put right.

"I wouldn't say he spilled his guts, but we had a meeting and we sat down and discussed what it's like to miss out, what it feels like to get that close and not win the cup. Alan Maybury's been there and got close, Scott Robertson's been there and won the cup with Dundee United. It was about bringing in different viewpoints on how it feels to be that close to a cup final and win, or to be that close to a cup final and miss out. It was valuable. Sometimes I think you learn more from defeat. I've never been so close to something as big as this. It's quite comfortably the biggest game of my career, with the pressure and the sense of what's at stake."

Williams has been an impressive addition under manager Pat Fenlon this season and his popularity with supporters has resulted, ahead of this and all previous Scottish Cup ties, in a variety of eyebrow-raising propositions on the streets of Edinburgh. "A few people have expressed their desire to win the Scottish Cup and told me what they would be prepared to sacrifice to see that happen. It's not printable, unfortunately! It would probably lead to a few divorces!

"But as a player you're definitely made aware of the real hunger amongst these fans to be winning the Scottish Cup. The cup means a helluva lot to everyone in Scottish football and for Hibs to go 111 years without lifting it is far too long.

"Most people will be expecting us to win this semi-final. Everyone knows in football there's no formalities. Falkirk have had some good results of late, they're a good team and they've got a new manager. There's a lot of positives going for them and they shouldn't be written off.

"There's a definite element of repayment needed from the players to the fans. We've probably let the coaching staff down too by not getting a top-six place, so we owe it to them as well."