Praise means nothing without prizes, says Sproule

IF FOOTBALL dispensed silverware on the basis of technical merit, Hibernian might have had to clear space in their trophy room for several new arrivals over the past two seasons.

Turning plaudits into prizes, however, has remained as much of a problem so far for the Easter Road club under Tony Mowbray as it has for all of his predecessors as manager since Alex Miller guided them to League Cup success 15 years ago.

As the countdown to Sunday's Tennent's Scottish Cup semi-final against Hearts at Hampden intensifies, at least one of the current Hibs squad is prepared to admit that all of the pretty football they have proved themselves capable of producing will be worthless if they fail to go all the way and lift the trophy in May.

"At the end of the season, when it's all done and dusted, people won't be looking back to see who finished fourth or fifth in the league, they will just be looking at who won the league and who won the Scottish Cup," was the frank observation of Ivan Sproule when he spoke with reporters at Easter Road yesterday.

"We have played a lot of attractive football this season, got loads of praise in the press, but it will all be forgotten if we don't get ourselves into Europe and, I think, also get some silverware by lifting the cup."

The Northern Ireland international forward, who speaks almost as quickly as he runs at opposition defences, has proved something of a talisman for Hibs in the Scottish Cup this season, with goals in each of their ties so far - the 6-0 win at home against Arbroath, the 3-0 victory over Rangers at Ibrox and the 5-1 quarter-final success at Falkirk.

Sproule had a brief and bitter taste of the Hampden experience 12 months ago, as a substitute in the 2-1 semi-final defeat by Dundee United, and is driven by a fierce desire to lay that to rest.

"I'd only played a few games for the first team last season when I got involved in the semi-final," he recalled. "It was a huge thing for me and maybe overwhelmed me a bit on the day. I'll be better prepared on Sunday because the pressure doesn't get to me now, I've adjusted to it.

"I'm sure last year's semi-final will be in the back of the mind for a few of the boys when we turn up at Hampden on Sunday and we won't want to make that trip back to Edinburgh again having lost out. We have to go that extra step, get ourselves to the final and get our hands on the cup.

"I've managed to score in every round of the cup this season so far, so I've been doing well in it. I'd like to carry on that way and it's a personal goal to go all the way and lift the cup to cap what's been a great year for me. When you look back on your career, it's great to have the nice memories but people will always tell you its the medals that count."

Sproule has been encouraged by the reaction this week of his team-mates to last Saturday's 2-0 SPL defeat at home to Inverness Caledonian Thistle which saw Hibs slip to fifth place in the table and jeopardise their hopes of European qualification through the league.

"I'm not saying third place in the league has gone for us yet," he said, "but obviously our recent league form hasn't been great. It makes it all the more important to win on Sunday, because it's a great opportunity to get into Europe again.

"We were all hurting after Saturday. The senior players could have taken it easy on Monday, just gone and sat in the sauna or jacuzzi, but a lot of us went and trained with the youngsters just to get back kicking a ball again as soon as possible. That showed a wee bit of hunger in everyone to get it right."

There is a widespread belief that the winners of the all-Edinburgh semi-final will place one hand on the trophy even before they play the final against Gretna or Dundee on 13 May and it's a notion Sproule accepts.

"You have to be realistic about it," he said. "I look at Celtic, who have been the best side throughout this season, but on the day Clyde beat them fair and square. It shows you that any team can rise above themselves in this tournament, but obviously either Hearts or ourselves will fancy ourselves as strong favourites if we get to the final."

As an Ulster native, Sproule requires no instruction in what constitutes a bitter divide but he admits to having been taken aback by the intensity of the Edinburgh derby.

"I didn't really appreciate how fierce the rivalry was between Hibs and Hearts," he said. "I grew up as a Rangers supporter in Northern Ireland, so I used to know all about the rivalry with Celtic, but when I came to Edinburgh I was quite surprised how intense it is.

"They are great games to play in and it's just about the only thing the supporters will be talking about at home or at work this week.

"I don't think there will be much in it on Sunday, I think it will be won by the odd goal and hopefully we can get it. It's going to be the biggest atmosphere we have played in all season, because the expectation levels of both sets of supporters will be so high. It's down to us to make sure we are the team who live up to those expectations."

Taken from the Scotsman