Murphy out to turn plaudits into prizes

THEIR entertaining brand of football may have been hailed by fans and pundits alike, but David Murphy insists Hibs can't consider themselves a success until they get their hands on some silverware.

The left-back has never won a professional trophy but is hoping he and his team-mates can take a step closer to glory tonight when they take on arch rivals Hearts in the quarter-finals of the CIS Cup.

The Easter Road defender, 23, believes his side have the quality within their squad to win trophies but admits they have to start proving that in the games that count.

Hibs failed to reach a final under Tony Mowbray and haven't won a trophy since the First Division title in 1998/99, but Murphy is keeping fingers crossed that this could finally be the season they reap rewards for their hard work.

He said: "

Any good football team can only be judged on the trophies they win or the finals they get to.

"I would love to win a trophy. Every player is the same and especially here because for most of the boys I think it would be their first piece of silverware. It would certainly be my first trophy and that's something that I am hoping to put right.

It would be a massive boost to the whole club if we could go out and win the cup this season."

Tonight's match at Easter Road also gives Hibs an opportunity to erase the disappointment they felt after throwing away a two-goal lead over their rivals in the league three weeks ago. Two errors from goalkeeper Zibi Malkowski allowed Hearts to haul themselves level to claim an unlikely share of the spoils.

While the Easter Road side have played some top-drawer football in recent seasons, they have also been guilty of some costly lapses of concentration but Murphy is determined there will be no repeat of that tonight.

And he warned his team-mates that the only way they will get their hands on silverware is if they maintain their concentration for the entire 90 minutes.

He said: "It's always nice to play in a derby. Every game that we play in just now seems to be a big game, but this one is even bigger because it's a chance to reach the semi-finals of a cup competition.

"We want to win trophies and, whether it's a derby game or not, it's a massive game and one that we want to win.

"When we played them a couple of weeks ago we went two goals up, only to let them back into the game.

"It was really disappointing not to win, obviously there were a couple of silly mistakes that day and I thought we were very unlucky not to win.

"We deserved to win, it was just unfortunate what happened and hopefully we can put that right tonight.

"If we want to win trophies every player who steps out on to the pitch has got to be focused for 90 minutes."

Tonight will be John Collins' first experience of an Edinburgh derby from the sidelines, having starred in dozens of them as a player and his experience will no doubt prove invaluable to his charges.

With everyone now fighting for a place under the new boss, Murphy admitted: "He has brought in a few ideas of his own that he has picked up along the way that are very good and things look promising.

"Training has been sharp, high-tempo and the boys are all looking fit and strong so we're looking forward to this game.

"When there is a new manager in there is always a lot of competition and players who maybe weren't getting a game under the previous boss suddenly find themselves given a chance.

"John has watched most of the sessions and is getting a better idea of the squad that he has inherited. Everyone is fighting for their place in the team and trying to impress and we need to keep our standards at that level."

While Hibs now have a manger at the helm, Hearts are still seeking stability after giving Valdas Ivanauskas time off to recover from a health problem.

Eduard Malofeev will take charge again tonight and there are doubts as to whether Ivanauskas will ever return to Tynecastle as head coach, but Murphy does not feel that will affect the Tynecastle players and added: "I think the off-field stuff has been going on at Tynecastle for a while now and while I wouldn't say that the players will be used to it, they will have adapted to it. I am sure they will cope fine and it will be a similar team to the one that played against us in the league."

The last time the Edinburgh sides met in a cup competition, Hearts ran out impressive 4-0 winners over their rivals in the semi-final of last season's Scottish Cup.

The wounds from the day are obviously still raw for the left-back and his team-mates but he insists they won't use the memory of that defeat to motivate them tonight: "They performed better than us on the day and deserved to win the semi-final, but hopefully we can turn that around tonight and put that behind us.

"That game has gone now and you can't keep looking back on it, we won't talk about it beforehand, I don't think there's any need for that.

"We know what we need to do and, to be honest, derby matches take care of themselves really.

"When it comes to derby games our fans are second to none. You know there are about 17,000 people out there and it sounds more like 30,000 because of the passion and the noise they create.

"They get right behind the team, even when things are maybe not going our way, and I think that is important.

"We haven't leaked too many goals recently, we look more of a unit than we ever have. Hopefully the boys will click up front because I think the final third of the pitch is the key factor for us.

"Hopefully that will come in time because we've got a few new players in, like Zemmama. Once the boys learn his style of play and vice versa I am sure it will all fall in place and we will reap the rewards.

"Sometimes it's nice to get a break from the league, especially when things haven't been going great. Our form has maybe been a bit disappointing in the last month or so and we want to put that right when we play Falkirk on Monday night.

"Before that though, we've got a big game to concentrate on and it would be nice to give the fans something back after everything that they've been through recently with losing Tony.

"And it would be nice for the boys as well. We've worked hard this season and hopefully we can get the win that we deserve."

Taken from the Scotsman