No cheat sheet for derby day, says Hibs boss

Ross reckons semi- final will be settled by players, not coaches

JACK ROSS has done his homework on the Hearts side his Hibernian team will face in the William Hill Scottish Cup semi- final tomorrow evening by studying their matches closely in recent weeks.

Ross was, though, given an additional insight into how the Tynecastle club might play at Hampden when their manager Robbie Neilson joined him as a guest tutor on an SFA coaching course earlier this season.

“We both have to speak about our own approaches as coaches and what we do,” he said. “So if there was anything we didn’t know about each other, there isn’t now because we had to be pretty open for the candidates on the course.”

Will what Ross learned from Neilson’s talk help the Easter Road outfit to teach their Edinburgh rivals a football lesson this weekend and graduate to the final against either Aberdeen or Celtic in December? He doesn’t believe so.

“It’s not really about him or I,” he said. “It’s about the players on the pitch. All we can do is prepare them and make sure they’re ready. It always comes down to how players perform and the fine margins.”

The former Alloa, St Mirren and Sunderland manager has achieved much during his coaching career – not least leading the Paisley club back into the top flight – but it is fair to say he has failed two of the biggest examinations he has faced.

He went to Wembley twice in the space of a few months last year, for the Checkatrade Trophy final in March and then the League One play- off final in May, and his Stadium of Light side lost both of them at the death.

But Ross, whose Hibs side has been one of the form teams in the country in the 2020/ 21 campaign and currently occupy third place in the Premiership, believes that he has grown as a result of those disappointments and is far better placed to deal with tomorrow’s semi- final.

Avoiding the pain he experienced when Sunderland were beaten by Portsmouth on penalties and when Charlton netted in the fourth minute of injury- time is certainly a major motivation for him.

“The more experience you gather in any job, the more it helps you,” he said. “Those games have helped me enormously. Each and every time you experience a game of that magnitude it helps you.

“It helps you have a greater degree of calmness in the build- up to it. It makes you understand how to keep your players focused but calm as well. That clarity of thought that you need to have through emotional occasions? You develop that.

“It makes you do everything you can to make sure you come out on the right side of the result because the bigger the occasion, the more intense the fixture – the more it hurts, the more it stings. It did on those two occasions so I want to make sure I am part of a group that comes out on the right side of the result at the weekend.”

Ross added: “I must admit the experience of losing two finals at Wembley hurt. When you get to that stage you would probably have rather have gone out in the semis! Losing a final on an occasion like that is really sore.

“Once you get to this stage of the tournament, whether it is a semi- final or a final, you know you are close.

“When you are that close to anything you don’t want to fall short. I will certainly be doing everything I can to make sure we don’t at the weekend.”