Hibs’ Alex Harris cleans up after starring role

Alex Harris sparked Hibs into life in the Cup semi-final, his goal starting the comeback. Picture: SNS

The Hibs kid turned up to cheer on the club’s Under-20 side just days after sparking the Easter Road outfit’s incredible Scottish Cup semi-final comeback against Falkirk with his first goal in a green-and-white shirt.

But as the youngsters changed after beating Kilmarnock 5-1 at Linlithgow’s Prestonfield Park, they were astonished to see 18-year-old Harris muck in with the chores.

Today James McDonaugh, Hibs’ Head of Academy Coaching, said: “Alex’s name has been on  everyone’s lips since Saturday, but he asked if he could come along to the Under-20s match to support the boys he’s been playing alongside all season.

“There was a bit of banter flying about, the boys were giving him a bit of stick asking if he’d made sure he’d brought a pen as the autograph hunters would be out.

“But at the end of the game while they were getting changed there was Alex picking the dirty kit off the floor and packing it away. No-one had asked him to do it, he just mucked in to help.

“It shows the wonderful attitude Alex has. He’d had a terrific game at Hampden, grabbing the match by the scruff of the neck in the second half and attracted a lot of headlines for his performance but he still sees himself very much being part of this group. They’ve been together for a while and are a very tight-knit bunch of boys.”

While Harris was relatively unknown until the last few months, McDonaugh admitted he felt the youngster could make a huge impact this season despite being hit by the sudden death of his father Kenny last summer. He said: “Alex’s dad was a great character, you could hear his voice above everyone else at our matches shouting ‘come on Alex.’

“His death was obviously devastating for Alex but it seemed to spur him on, as if he wanted to do it for his dad.

“We went to the Foyle Cup in Ireland, played five games in five days and while I was trying to rotate the squad I just couldn’t leave Alex out. Now he has hit the ground running in the first team. He’s like a sponge in that he absorbs everything he’s told.”

• HIBS have pointed out that fans who buy tickets for Monday’s match against Aberdeen will have the chance to win the right to buy their briefs for the Cup final against Celtic with their names entered in a draw for 100 pairs of tickets.