Hibs boss Terry Butcher has dismissed talk of a Scottish Cup hoodoo ahead of Saturday’s tie against Ross County. Hibs of course haven’t won the trophy since 1902, whilst the Cup was on only domestic silverware to elude Butcher when he was Rangers captain. In addition, Hibs have never beaten Ross County in a competitive game and Butcher has never led a team to victory in Dingwall.
Despite these statistics, the former England captain can’t wait for the game to start and insists that he is looking to the future, not the past.
Speaking at the club’s impressive training ground, Butcher said: “I look forward to it. I’ve got great respect for what they’ve achieved, it’s a well-run club.”
“I will get a reception. I’m sure the Ross County fans will sing my name, they always do with a few expletives before and after but I expect that.”
“Derek’s side had a fantastic run after Christmas last year and eventually reached the top six, which was a monumental achievement for a club that size. I’ve always said the more a team plays together the better it will become, that’s true for us too. It took a while for them to get a system last year with the personnel they had and they added in January and took off from there.
“I can see that being the exact same and I hope their best form is reserved for January and not Saturday. The surface in Dingwall is immense; it’s a great little stadium and will be noisy.
“I would be thrilled to win in Dingwall. It would be nice because one of the so-called hoodoos is I haven’t taken a team to Dingwall and won yet.
Last year Butcher’s Inverness were involved in a thrilling 3-3 draw against Ross County with two goals coming in injury time, before Caley eventually won the replay : “I would settle for 3-3 again and the way the game went. I think we won 1-0 against Celtic on the Saturday, beat Aberdeen on the Tuesday and then Ross County, so it was three unbelievably hard games.
“The cup tie was sensational drama. It sums up cup football, both teams had a go at each other and I think that will be the case on Saturday Both teams will want to win at the first time of asking.”
Hibs have reached the final of the Scottish Cup for the last two years which Butcher sees as a bonus: “There are positives because a lot of the players are still here and know what it takes to get to a final. They didn’t win it but they’ve won eight out of the last 10 Scottish Cup matches. The two they’ve lost are obviously the finals. It’s all historical facts; I’ve not won the Scottish Cup as a player and didn’t do this or that. It’s our chance to write history and that’s what we intend to do.
“There is talk about a Scottish Cup hoodoo with Hibs because we haven’t won it for 112 years. We haven’t got 112-year-old players in the dressing room.
“The Hibs players have done everything they can to break that sequence and failed at the last hurdle in the past two seasons. You’ve got to be in the Final to win it and we would love to make it a hat-trick. Football is all about firsts and at Inverness we were creating history every other week. We are looking to do the same at Hibs and what better place than Dingwall to start.”
Meanwhile Butcher revealed that long term injury victim Tim Clancy is fit and likely to play in the club’s East of Scotland League game on Saturday. Concerns were raised when he wasn’t included in the Under 20s game against Hamilton in midweek, but the manager explained that the reason was due to Hamilton’s pitch being astroturf so he wasn’t risked.
Michal Nelson and hat trick hero Jason Cummings are added to the squad.
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
