Alan Stubbs hits back at ‘bottlers’ label

A delighted Alan Stubbs heaped praise on his players following their fantastic 2-1 victory over St Johnstone in the Scottish League Cup presented by Utilita Semi Final at a packed Tynecastle yesterday.

The victory was a team effort with every player playing his part however he singled out the goal-scorers for a special mention, highlighting the coolness and confidence of Jason Cummings and driving force of John McGinn,

He also revealed that he did not see the opening goal and only knew that Hibs had taken the lead from the reaction of the supporters in the Gorgie Road end of the ground and hit back at the people who have questioned the clubs’ ‘bottle’ on the big occasion.

Speaking immediately after the game to cliff Pike of Hibs TV he said: “We knew it was going to be a difficult game today and everyone that has faced St Johnstone will know how difficult they are to play against and to get a result.

“The fact that we have managed to do that today and get ourselves to a cup final is just fantastic.”

“Nothing fazes Jason (Cummings). He has a real confidence about his ability. I don’t look at penalties and never did even as a player, I just always look at fans’ reactions and I was just delighted to look to my left and see all the fans celebrating.

“The club have been called bottlers in the past and nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that people who said that eat their words tonight.

“John (McGinn) was a real driving force for us today and you have seen him at his best. He was really positive, getting behind defenders and making things happen and to be honest he could have scored a couple of goals today.

“The biggest game for us right now is against Morton on Tuesday. We will enjoy it tonight then sit back tomorrow and watch the other semi-final from Hampden and see who we are going to meet in the final but it’s nice being able to watch it knowing that we have done our job.”

Celtic face Ross County at Hampden at 3pm today in the other semi-final.