James Keatings saw at first hand the support the fans gave Hibs in the Edinburgh Derbies at Tynecastle last season and he hopes it will be similar on Saturday in the Scottish League Cup presented by Utilita Semi Final against St Johnstone.
Keatings is no stranger to the Gorgie stadium having spent a year with Hearts before crossing the great divide in the summer.
He started last week’s game against St Mirren on the bench although he made a major impact late in the game showing some delicate skills before setting up new boy Anthony Stokes with a tap-in to secure the three points.
The competition for places in the team eased earlier this week however with the news that Dominique Malonga had left the club.
Speaking to Hibs TV, Keatings said: “It will be good to pack out the stadium and see it in green and white and hopefully they will get right behind us.
“Last season in the derbies the Hibs support made a lot of noise in the away end and got right behind the team. Hopefully they can do it again and help push the team forward.
“It’s a semi-final with the chance of getting to a final and all the boys are buzzing.
“Both teams will be right up for it and St Johnstone are in the SPL but we are not taking that into consideration. We have already played SPL teams and shown how good we are.
“We are going into this game believing in ourselves and hopefully we can get the job done.”
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.
