Veteran defender Lewis Stevenson is hoping history repeats itself when Hibs faces Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Easter Road in the William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final on Friday.
The teams met at the same stage in 2016 with Hibs winning after a replay and of course then went on to win the competition.
Coincidentally Hibs qualified for the last eight by beating Robbie Neilson’s Dundee United after a replay whereas five years ago they did the same to Neilson’s Hearts.
Speaking after the final whistle on Saturday, Stevenson said: “We’ve got to look forward to Friday. We beat Caley on the way to the 2016 final, I think that was a stuffy one as well.
“We were at rock bottom as we’d just got beat in the League Cup final, and I think everyone thought we’d go up there and get turned over in the replay.
“It’s probably one in the lead-up to the Scottish Cup that gets overlooked. It was a massive game for us.
“We know it will be a tough game. We won’t be wanting to go back up there, but as long as we get through the tie that’s the main thing.
“I saw a bit of their game on Friday night, they played well and we’ll need to play better than we did against Livi.
“On their day they’ve got some good players who can hurt you, like James Keatings if he’s able to play. They are a big team. We’ll need to be at our best.”
Stevenson was an unexpected starter in Hibs’ 1-1 draw with Livingston after replacing Joe Newell who was injured during the warm-up which came as a shock to the experienced defender.
He added: “It was about five minutes before we were due to go back in. It was a bit of a shock to the system, but about ten minutes into the game you kind of forget about it and you are ready to go
“Joe’s ankle was bothering him from last week and he thought he’d be OK, but he’s hurt it.
“You’re supposed to be ready to be called upon at all times, but you never think that’s going to happen.
“I think I was doing keepy uppies. I should be experienced enough to expect the unexpected — but I wasn’t
“It was always going to be a stuffy game with not a lot of chances for either team so when you do get a lead like that, the next 15-20 minutes is when you want to hold out strong.
“Even if it isn’t pretty you want to shut up shop.
“They are a decent team and they are where they are in the league on merit, so maybe at the end of the year that might be a good point.
“We didn’t play well but maybe a point is not the worst result”
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.
