Hibs: Murray says he'll use derby experience to help first-timers

Published on Friday 1 April 2011 11:00

Derby veteran Ian Murray today insisted he's ready to nurse Colin Calderwood's rookies through their first clash with Hearts.

While the Easter Road skipper prepares for his 26th match against Hibs' Capital rivals, more than half of his team-mates could be taking part in their very first.

Victor Palsson, Matt Thornhill, Akpo Sodje, Martin Scott, Callum Booth, Richie Towell and Ricardo Vaz Te have yet to sample the white-hot cauldron of an Edinburgh derby but Murray will be on hand to help guide them, although he believes they already know what to expect tomorrow lunchtime.

He said: "There's been an intensity in training this week but the main thing for the new guys is that if they make a mistake they have to keep going.

"Make a mistake and it is easy to let the ground swallow you up and the game pass you by completely. That's not what anyone wants to see especially from your own team-mates.

"So if anyone drops a clanger or makes a bad mistake early doors you just have to keep them going and make sure they remain focused."

While the likes of Thornhill, Sodje and Vaz Te will have experienced similar encounters while playing in England, 30-year-old Murray, who also played in four Old Firm clashes while with Rangers, warned them to expect a totally different atmosphere this time round.

Agreeing that perhaps a little more responsibility lies on his shoulders on this occasion, the former Norwich City man said: "The build-up all week will help get them ready but going by my experience down south it's a different kind of atmosphere you get for a derby down there.

"It will probably be a bit of a shock but equally I think they will be ready. They've had a little bit of time to bed in to the league so they will know what to expect, they'll know a little bit about Hearts and if they don't then I am sure they most certainly will after the first 20 or 25 minutes."

Having said that, on-loan Celtic kid Towell displayed a little naivety ahead of tomorrow's clash in claiming that, as an Irish Catholic, he's more likely to be singled out by the Hearts fans than his team-mates. Basing his comments on the reception he and his Celtic team-mates received in Gorgie last November, a match won 2-0 by Hearts with Hoops manager Neil Lennon sent to the stand, Towell said: "You could see how their fans react to Celtic players and I am sure it will be the same, especially me being Irish and Catholic they'll take a bit more out on me."

A Celtic substitute that night in November when team-mate Joe Ledley was also sent off, Towell said: "They give you a bit during the warm-up at Tynecastle, perhaps worse than Rangers.

"During the game you could feel the tackles going in, there was plenty of rivalry in it, but I love when the opposition fans do that, it gets you going, makes you want to give everything. Brilliant."

Tomorrow will be Hibs' first competitive match in a month but Towell admitted he hopes the enforced break won't have robbed Calderwood's players of the momentum they had been building, a run of six matches undefeated, having hauled Hibs away from the foot of the SPL table and the threat of a relegation dogfight.

Victory over Hearts would also not only end the Jambos' run of four successive derby wins, Jim Jefferies' side unbeaten in their last six encounters with Hibs, but boost the Easter Road outfit's hopes of forcing their way into the top six.

Trailing Motherwell by five points and with only four matches remaining before the split, Towell conceded there was little margin for error, making tomorrow's match a "must win" on two fronts.

He said: "Winning the derby is a must but the rivalry apart, we want to get into the top six. We are close to both Motherwell and Inverness.

"When I first came in we were second bottom but now we've been on a good run and have pushed up the table."