Hibs have real chance to win cup, says Collins

HIBERNIAN have been installed as hot favourites for the CIS Cup after beating Hearts 1-0 here last night. St Johnstone's shock defeat of Rangers, added to the elimination of Celtic by Falkirk on Tuesday, has given the Edinburgh club their best chance of a trophy since they last won the same competition 15 years ago. Kilmarnock complete the quartet of semi-finalists.

John Collins, a derby winner in just his second match as Hibs manager, talked up the openness of the competition, but there was no disguising his pleasure at getting the better of Hearts. "I'm delighted at the performance," said Collins, who won the Edinburgh derby only three times as a player. "I thought we played fantastic in the first half. Towards the end we gave the ball away a little too much and there were a few anxious moments. We should have scored a second goal, but we deserved the victory."

It was the first time Hibs have ever beaten Hearts in the League Cup, which stretches back almost 60 years. Hearts won the four previous meetings, two in 1947 and two in 1956, when the competition began with mini-leagues. The key to success, Collins continued, was discipline combined with commitment.

"We played ever so well. We had a few near misses, and it should have been more. They [the Hibs players] kept their cool, but at the same time showed the aggression and passion needed to win tackles. Who would have thought two nights ago that Rangers and Celtic would both be out of the cup? It's a great opportunity for one of the four of us."

The fact that Kilmarnock got a point at Easter Road indicates that Hibs will not necessarily have the rest of the competition all their own way, and the goalscorer Rob Jones said there was no way they would presume the rest of the competition was plain sailing. "Everybody is shocked Rangers and Celtic have gone out, and the four teams who are left in all have as good a chance as each other," he said. "It's wide open. The way the gaffer and [his assistant coach] Tommy Craig do things, complacency won't be an issue."

Jones added: "We lost Michael Stewart early on through injury, which was a blow, but Guillaume Beuzelin was a great replacement."

No Hearts coach offered a comment after the match, and the defender Jose Goncalves was the only club employee to speak. He admitted the team had been embarrassed by their poor performance.

"I think yes," he said. "We had not too many chances. We spoke about that at half-time but it was not too easy tonight."

Hearts again looked dispirited, but Goncalves said he still believed that hard work would bring an improvement. "We have to keep working hard. It's not acceptable."

Taken from the Scotsman