Hibs’ Head Coach Neil Lennon is determined to retain the Scottish Cup, starting with Bonnyrigg Rose at Tynecastle this afternoon.
Lennon believes that last season’s cup win takes the pressure off the players who can now go out and enjoy themselves rather than worry about the 114 year ‘hoodoo’.
He revealed that he may make changes to his starting XI but he insisted that the players selected will be focussed on winning the game.
Speaking to Hibs TV, he said: “”We’ve got a tricky tie and one that we’ll have to negotiate. We’ll have to apply ourselves in the right way, but we want to make a strong defence of the trophy.
“I know how much it means to so many people to have won it – it’s my objective to try and retain it.
“It’s amazing the significance of that win and what it meant to so many people. From the outside coming in you don’t realise it. 114 years is a long time and I think that even if Hibs had won the Champions’ League it probably wouldn’t have meant as much as that Scottish Cup and in the context of the way they won it as well.
“Great days and great moments for the players as well and we have to defend it as best we can.
“The attitude of the players has been excellent in everything that we have asked them to do and I’m sure they will be hungry to defend the trophy as strongly as we can.
“Winning the cup was a big weight off the players’ shoulders and I think there is a lightness going into the competition now.
“For me, I want to win it. That monkey off the players’ backs has gone now and now the pressure is off and we can enjoy it but we want to win.
“Bonnyrigg have beaten Dumbarton, who we know are a difficult team to beat, especially at Dumbarton which is a tough place to go. The tie is ripe with danger, we have to make sure we are at our best.
“They have an excellent junior record. this will be a big day for them and they will be very motivated.
“I think the pitch is in good condition which is good and we will see what the conditions are like. We are going to go strong and it’s important that we negotiate the tie as best we can with the momentum we have built up over the last few weeks.
“Paul Hanlon will be out and Dylan McGeouch is a major doubt for the game whilst Ofir Marciano is back training now alongside Fyvie and McGinn.
“We may make a few changes but we are focussed on winning the game. we are forced to make one change because David (Gray) is suspended and he will be a miss because he has been so consistent this season. ”
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.
