Hibs’ goalkeeper Matt Macey has revealed that he trained with Conrad Logan as a teenager and is now determined to follow in his footsteps by lifting the Scottish Cup on Saturday.
Macey, who joined Hibs on loan from Arsenal in January before signing a two-year contract in May, has made his seven appearances so far with four coming in the Scottish Cup and is likely to start against St Johnstone at the national stadium.
Coincidentally the last time Hibs won the trophy in 2016, Logan was drafted in for the semi-final against Dundee United after first choice Mark Oxley received a second yellow card for time wasting against Inverness Caledonian Thistle when he lost a contact lens.
He then produced an outstanding display against Dundee United for 120 minutes before saving two penalties in the shoot out.
He then kept his place for the dramatic 3-2 final victory over Rangers.
Like Logan, Macey has arrived relatively unknown from south of the border and helped Hibs win a penalty shoot-out against Motherwell in the quarter final.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference Macey said: “He (Conrad Logan) made a name for himself and I have heard a lot about him. I am excited about the opportunity. If I can perform anything like he did, I will be happy with that on Saturday.
“I obviously heard a lot about it before our semi-final because we were playing Dundee United. I watched that previous game – it was probably the best goalkeeping performance I have ever seen, so I am very aware of that situation and funny enough he probably isn’t aware but, when he went on loan to Bristol Rovers a year or two before he came to Hibs, I was actually a young goalkeeper there.
“I was only about 15 but trained with him for one session so I had tracked his career from that point. I am sure he won’t remember me – it was literally one session. I knew about Hibs from that cup run so it is quite a nice coincidence.”
Macey was an unused substitute when Arsenal beat Chelsea in the 2020 FA Cup final, but never envisaged that this opportunity would arise.
He added: “No, a million miles away from that at the start of the season and I feel very fortunate to be in this position.
“It has almost come out of nowhere and if you had told me I was playing in a cup final at the start of the season, it was the furthest thing I was thinking about doing.
“I was thinking about trying to play some sort of football at some point this season. I am very lucky to have found such a great club and for everything to have fallen into place that has given me this opportunity to possibly reach the highest point in my career so far.”
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.
