Jason Cummings joins elite band of players

Jason Cummings joined an elite group of footballers yesterday when he became only the fifth teenager since WWII to score a competitive hat trick for Hibs, and if the youngster can emulate any of the others he will have a bright future in the game.

Ironically he almost didn’t take part in the game after havng been charged with misconduct after allegedly making an offensive gesture during his goal celebration at Tynecastle last Saturday, but thankfully for the Hibs’ fans, the charge was found to be not proven.

The last time a teenager scored a hat-trick for the club was almost 30 years ago when 19 year old Gordon ‘Jukebox’ Durie who was actually 67 days younger than Cummings scored three in a 5-1 win against Morton. Playing on the wing that day was Joe McBride who is back at the club in charge of the Under-20s.

Durie, who had been signed from East Fife by John Blackley for £65,000 later moved to Chelsea for £400,000 then Tottenham Hotspurs and Rangers before moving to Hearts.

Before that, you have to go back to when Jock Sein was manager and a certain 18 year old Peter Cormack scored three in a 4-1 victory against Airdrie in a League Cup tie.

Coincidentally Cormack like Cummings was on Hearts’ books before crossing the great divide to Easter Road.

Cormack subsequently moved to Nottingham Forest then Liverpool where he won the League Championship, FA Cup and UEFA Cup before moving to Bristol City and eventually back to Easter Road.

The last two names on the list won’t come as a surprise to any Hbs fan.

Aged 17 years and 107 days, the great Joe Baker scored his first hat trick for the club in a 3-2 away win over St Mirren on 2nd November 1957.

He then followed that up by scoring four against high flying Hearts at Tynecastle in a never to be forgotten Scottish Cup tie.

Baker wasn’t satisfied by that however and scored an incredible ELEVEN hat-tricks before he reached his 20th birthday.

These came against St Mirren, Hearts, Aberdeen, Third Lanark (twice) Celtic, Queen of the South, Dunfermline, Airdrie, Arbroath and Clyde.

He soon became the target of all the top clubs and moved to Torino for £65,000 then returned to the UK where he played for Arsenal and Nottingham Frest before returning to his first love in Leith.

The last name on the list is unsurprisingly the great Lawrie Reilly who scored three against Queen of the South in a 6-0 victory 17 days before his 19th birthday. He also grabbed a hat trick in a 4-4 draw with Albion Rovers two months before turning 20.

Reilly spent his whole career at Hibs who won three League titles and reached the semi final of the European Cup during his time there. He also won 38 caps for Scotland.

Photo by John Preece