Hibs fans are hoping that history repeats itself when they take on St Johnstone in the Betfred League Cup semi-final on Saturday night.
The last time Hibs won the League Cup was in 2007 they coincidentally faced St Johnstone in the semi-final of the tournament which was sponsored by CIS Insurance.
The victory was the high point of the ‘golden generation’ of youngsters who came through under Tony Mowbray and included top quality home bred youngsters such as Steven Whittaker, Scott Brown, Steven Fletcher and subsequent man of the match Lewis Stevenson.
Mowbray had left earlier in the campaign and had been replaced by John Collins.
The semi-final took place in front of a packed Tynecastle and at that time Hibs were massive favourites against the Saints who were in the First Division at that time.
Hibs qualified for the semi-final after a 1-0 victory over Hearts at Easter Road thanks to a goal from skipper Rob Jones and since then Guillaume Beuzelin had returned to the starting line-up following the transfer to Rangers of Kevin Thomson. Dean Shiels was also in midfield in place of Stevenson.
Steven Fletcher made an impact after less than three minutes when Ivan Sproule sped to the by-line before flicking the ball to the Scotland Under-19 striker, who volleyed home from 12 yards.
It looked as though the top-flight side would go on to win comfortably and Hibs almost doubled their lead when Scott Brown, putting transfer speculation behind him, struck the top of the crossbar with a 25-yard drive.
The Perth side however fought bravely and created a number of chances and eventually secured a deserved equaliser when substitute Filipe Morais sent in a beautiful cross and Jason Scotland headed over the stranded Andy McNeil.
The game went into extra time and David Murphy settled the nerves of the Hibs’ fans with a superbly taken 30-yard free-kick which curled into the net.
Another Murphy effort was deflected on to the crossbar then just before the final whistle Abdessalam Benjelloun rounded the goalkeeper and tapped the ball into the empty net to secure a trip to Hampden where they won the Cup with a superb 5-1 victory over Kilmarnock.
St Johnstone: Cuthbert, Lawrie, McManus, James, Stanic, Mensing, McInnes, Hardie (Jackson 95), Sheerin, MacDonald (Morais 68), Scotland.
Hibs: McNeil, Whittaker, Martis, Jones, Murphy, Sproule (McCann 67), Scott Brown, Stewart (Benjelloun 46), Shiels (Stevenson 59), Fletcher, Beuzelin.
Subs Not Used: Hogg, Simon Brown.
Att: 16,112
Ref: C Thomson
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.
