Scottish Cup final: Hearts boss Paulo Sergio bats aside talk of pressure

Three years have elapsed since Hibs last won an Edinburgh derby, and Hearts have won all three meetings between the clubs this season. However, the build-up to the season’s showpiece has seen members of the Easter Road side claim Hearts are running scared.

Sergio, employing his trademark dry sense of humour, dismissed the mind games. He declared that Hibs are the only team under pressure ahead of the first all-Edinburgh final for 116 years because they habitually lose derby matches.

“If somebody wants to make mind games with me, they have to call me,” he said. “Gary Locke was saying to me that things are being said every single day, but you can tell them I can give my phone number and they can give me a call. I’m too focused on the game and my job to be thinking of that.

“If you believe that losing puts the pressure onto the other team that wins more times, okay, you keep losing. Keep losing and put the pressure onto us.”

Sergio outlined his belief that, by tomorrow evening, Hearts will be triumphant if they focus solely on football. “I hope and I believe that around five o’clock it is going to be a tremendous day. Before that it will be just a normal day.

“I always give 100 per cent to prepare for every single day of work I do, every single game we play. So from that point of view this is not any different. We are working the same way we work for the other games because we