Bamba wants to take Hibs to cup final

Published on Tuesday 22 September 2009 09:51

THE last time Sol Bamba reached a cup final, his dreams were left in tatters as Celtic bagged a last-gasp goal to lift the silverware.

The Ivory Coast defender would love nothing more than to make it back to Hampden this year with Hibs – as long as he's taking a winner's medal home.

Bamba was part of the Dunfermline side which made it to the Scottish Cup final at the end of season 2006-07 and admits the whole experience is something he will never forget.

The Parkhead outfit brought an end to what could have been a perfect day for Bamba and his Pars team-mates when they scored the only goal of the game five minutes from time through Jean-Joel Perrier Doumbe.

Despite the defeat, Bamba relished playing his part in the run to the final and is hoping Hibs can take a step closer to the national stadium tonight when they take on St Johnstone.

The Perth side are back at Easter Road for the second time in just three days after being paired with the Hibees in the third round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup.

Having defeated Saints 3-0 in the SPL on Saturday, Bamba's side know what it will take to knock Derek McInnes' side out of the competition and he's determined to do everything in his power to ensure it's Hibs who progress to the next round.

He said: "It is never easy to have a game against the same team just three days later.

"I suppose the one advantage we have is that we know what it will take to win the game and we know just how difficult they will make it for us.

"It is such an important game for us because we have not done well in the cup competitions for a few years now and that is not good enough for the players, the manager and for the supporters. There are only four games between us and the cup final so we must put everything we have into tonight's game to make sure we get a positive result.

"I have been to a final once before, the Scottish Cup final with Dunfermline and, although we lost to a late goal from Celtic, it was still a great, great feeling to be there and be part of the build-up to the match.

"I loved it and the fans loved it – I think that the Hibs fans deserve that as well.

"If we can play to the best of our ability then I don't see why we can't achieve that. We certainly have the determination and the commitment.

"We have to take each game one at a time, though, and, at the moment, the most important game for us is the third round.

"Hopefully, we will have plenty of time to focus on the final later in the season but we know that we will only get there if we give it 100 per cent."

While Hibs' win over Saints looked convincing enough on paper, manager John Hughes believes there is still room for improvement.

Indeed, if the Perth men had been sharper with their finishing, they could have found themselves a couple of goals to the good inside the opening ten minutes.

Bamba conceded it had been a slow start by his side but was simply relieved to get back to winning ways after the previous week's disappointment against Hamilton and he added: "We know that we had a bad start to the game on Saturday and that we can't afford to do that again because next time they could punish us.

"They had a couple of good chances in the opening minutes and hit the bar. We looked nervous and it took us a little while to get going.

"The most important thing for us, though, was that we wanted to get back on track in the league after the defeats to Celtic and Hamilton and we were happy that we were able to do that."

In the absence of captain Chris Hogg, who was dropped to the bench, Bamba paired up with Ian Murray in the centre of defence and the duo looked comfortable throughout: "There were a few changes to the side from last week but I thought that we did well," Bamba asserted. "We were really happy to keep a clean sheet because that was our first since the start of the season.

"We know we can play better but on Saturday the most important aspect for us was to get the three points.

"We've been working hard on a lot of things in training and we're trying to play good football as well as get the right results and hopefully we are now moving in that direction.

"The manager was not happy all week after the defeat against Hamilton and he let us know that he wanted a big improvement for the team and the supporters. We were all determined to go out on Saturday to prove that we are a good team and that it had just been a bad day, a one-off for us.

"He made a couple of changes and we missed our captain but I think that we have got a good squad and there are players who can come into the side and do a very good job for us when they are needed."

Bamba insists there are no concerns about the confidence or spirit running through the Easter Road squad ahead of tonight's match and believes that victory would send them into the weekend's league match away to Motherwell on something of a high.

He added: "People have spoken about our confidence levels but, when you win a game 3-0, that is all forgotten about.

"We are happy and confident and if we win again tonight then that would be a great way to go into the game against Motherwell next weekend.

"Sometimes it is better to have lots of games to be involved in because it keeps the momentum going and you get into a rhythm."