Hibs boss John Hughes confident of Scottish Cup success

Published on Friday 12 March 2010 09:29

HIBS boss John Hughes today insisted he won't allow the weight of history to overwhelm his players, telling them: "Why shouldn't this be our year to win the Scottish Cup?"

• John Hughes

As a lifelong Easter Road fan Hughes is aware of the club's 108-year wait to lift that piece of silverware but, he claimed, he's revelling in having the opportunity to smash that particular hoodoo.

As he looked forward to tomorrow's quarter-final against First Division Ross County, Hughes described Hibs' failure to win the Cup as "just one of those things".

But, he admitted, he'd love to be the manager who guides the club to glory, an achievement which would grant everyone involved legendary status. He said: "In my time as manager I'll be trying to put that to bed. It might never happen, but I've already said to the players 'why not us?'

"We are still in there, we still have that fighting chance so hopefully tomorrow we can take another step forward. This is where I want to be at this, the business end of the season, every year.

"We've got a lot of big, big games coming up but I keep telling the players that when they walk on to that stage they are the performers. There should be nowhere else they want to be.

"We all know the history of the Scottish Cup, its importance to this club, there's no point talking around it. But we have to handle that kind of pressure.

"I've detected a real edge about the players in training this week. They've been working hard and there's a vibe about the place. If we can take that into the game tomorrow, perform as we can then we'll give ourselves a right good chance of having a trip to Hampden."