Lewis Stevenson hoping history repeats itself

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”