Scottish Cup final: Craig Gordon recalls his captain’s stirring words... ‘Now you know how much this means’

LITTLE over six years ago, Hearts’ official team coach approached Hampden Park ahead of a monumental Scottish Cup tie with Hibs. It turned left off Carmunnock Road into Letherby Drive and headed for the underground roadway beneath the stadium’s main stand.

A mass of maroon and white lined the tarmac and the overhead concourse as the bus sped into the underground coach park. It was then that the importance of beating Hibs was reinforced to the Hearts players, as if they needed reminding.

The squad was preparing to disembark when captain Steven Pressley stood up to address the entire bus. “Now you know how much this means,” he growled. Paul Hartley, Rudi Skacel and everyone else took heed. And Hearts romped to a 4-0 victory.

“There was a quiet air of confidence about the team that day, right from the moment we got to Glasgow,” recalled goalkeeper Craig Gordon.

“I remember pulling into Hampden and all we could see was a sea of maroon and white scarves everywhere, wishing us all the best for the game.

“The Hearts fans got through there so early and gave us such a support, even just arriving at the ground.

“That really brought it home to the players that we couldn’t lose this match.

“We saw the size of the Hearts support that was there and how ecstatic they were at the prospect of this game. They were almost demanding that we win. Before we got off the bus Elvis stood up and just said to everybody: ‘Now you know how much this means. We have to go and do this.’

“Between getting off the bus and starting the game there wasn’t an awful lot said.

“Everybody knew what they had to do. We’d done all our preparation. It was just a case of going out and doing it.

“We had made up our minds that there was only going to be one winner that day, and that would be us. We had a lot of experience in the squad and we knew we had to win that one. We went out and performed as if it mattered that much.”