Lewis Stevenson will make history tomorrow if he picks up a winners’ medal after the Scottish League Cup final against Ross County at Hampden Park.
Incredibly in the 141 year history of the club, no Hibs’ player has ever won more than one ‘major’ cup medal (Scottish Cup and Scottish League cup only) whilst at Easter Road.
Many have came close, including Stevenson himself but none have succeeded.
Today the Edinburgh Reporter looks back at the men who nearly made it.
Hibs triumph over Jock Stein’s Celtic side in the League Cup final on 9th December 1972 was the first cup win for 70 years. The team that day were known as the Turnbull’s Tornadoes and consisted of Jim Herriot, John Brownlie, Erich Schaedler, Pat Stanton, Jim Black, John Blackley, Alex Edwards, Jimmy O’Rourke, Alan Gordon, Alex Cropley and Arthur Duncan.
Two years later Hibs were back at Hampden for another League Cup final against Celtic and six of the Tornadoes had the chance to collect a second medal, namely John Brownlie, Pat Stanton, John Blackley, Alex Edwards, Alex Cropley and Arthur Duncan.
Unfortunately it was not to be despite a hat trick from Joe Harper as Celtic ran out 6-3 winners.
In 1979 Arthur Duncan had another chance to win a second medal, this time in the Scottish Cup against Rangers however Hibs lost 3-2 after two replays. Ironically Arthur scored the ‘winning’ goal however it was at the wrong end.
Hibs next cup success came in 1991 when the ‘Team that wouldn’t die’ beat Dunfermline Athletic 2-0 at Hampden in the Skol League Cup final.
The team that day was John Burridge, Willie Miller, Graham Mitchell, Gordon Hunter, Tommy McIntyre, Brian Hamilton, Murdo McLeod, Michael Weir, Pat McGinlay, Keith Wright and Gareth Evans. Dave Beaumont was a substitute.
Two years later, five of that team, Willie Miller, Graham Mitchell, Gordon Hunter, Brian Hamilton and Keith Wright started against Rangers at Parkhead in the League cup final however they lost 2-1. Gareth Evans and Dave Beaumont were both on the bench that day.
In March 2007 Hibs defeated Kimarnock 5-1 in the CIS League Cup final at Hampden Park. The team that day was Andrew McNeil, Steven Whittaker, David Murphy, Rob Jones, Chris Hogg, Ivan Sproule, Guillaume Beuzelin, Scott Brown, Lewis Stevenson, Steven Fletcher, Abdessalam Benjelloun.
Hibs were back at Hampden five years later where they lost to Hearts. Lewis Stevenson started that game and Ivan Sproule was on the bench.
In 2013 Hibs returned to the national station where they lost to Celtic. On that occasion Lewis Stevenson was listed amongst the substitutes. Scott Brown captained the hoops that day and Anthony Stokes featured for Celtic.
With Lewis Stevenson a certain to start, barring a late injury, he will have the chance to write his name in the history books.
Photo by John Preece
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.
