Hibs ‘adventure’ thrills Stevenson
Lewis stevenson had his own way to describe Hibernian’s journey from the misery of relegation to their promotion party.
‘it has been a bit of an adventure,’ said the left-back with just a hint of understatement. the easter Road club’s longestserving player knows more than most just how much of a struggle it has been to return to the big time.
From demoralising defeats at Dumbarton and Alloa to that scottish Cup triumph, he does not need reminding that Hibs do not do things the simple way.
of course, it all began on a fateful day in May three years ago when the Leith side lost on penalties in the Premiership play-off final against Hamilton.
only three players who featured in that match remain at the club and played in saturday’s titleclinching win against Queen of the south — stevenson, striker Jason Cummings and Alex Harris.
no wonder, then, stevenson is relieved to see Hibs return to the Premiership.
‘i think relief comes into it,’ said the 29-year-old. ‘it has been a long time coming. we’ve come down and had some low moments, but if you had told me we’d come down and win the scottish Cup and get back in the third year i would probably have taken that.
‘it’s only three years but it does feel a lot longer than that. there have been times i’ve said: “this is harder than i thought”, but we’ve done it with a good performance.
‘At times, i probably did despair if we would ever be promoted but you see the support against Queen of the south — and it was probably inevitable at some point a club of our size was going to go up. i’m glad to be part of it.’
Play-off agony has followed stevenson and his team-mates over the years. ending their 114-year wait to lift the scottish Cup somewhat softened the misery of their struggle to escape the Championship.
As much as everyone and their dog talks about how that win against Rangers at Hampden acted as a boost for Hibs, stevenson firmly believes the club might still have been playing the starring role in another horror movie had it not been for their Cup triumph.
‘the play-offs have been tough, especially the defeat against Falkirk in the semi-final last season,’ he added. ‘that was hard.
‘i think if we hadn’t won the Cup it would have been hard to bounce back from that. i was part of the team that came down and felt i had to right some wrongs. i almost feel i have redeemed that by being part of the team going back up.
‘winning the Cup, you don’t really appreciate it until you have tasted how low you can be.
‘i know we keep on about the Cup but that did lift it for us, not just the players but the support this season has been phenomenal. i don’t think it would have been like that had we not won the Cup.
‘now it is about the league. we’ve played 33 games so far. it’s tough to win this league and it’s been shown how hard it can be.
‘we probably would have liked a few more wins than draws but we’ve only been beaten three times this season.’
Manager neil Lennon has made his frustration clear at Hibs’ failure to convert more draws into wins, most memorably after a 1-1 draw at Raith Rovers in February when he labelled his team ‘a disgrace’. stevenson, though, is willing to be on the end of an angry rant from his boss if it helps to motivate the team.
‘He is honest every day and we do moan,’ said stevenson. ‘it is hard at times but he does get the best out of us and he has changed the mentality. we are winners this season. to be beaten only three times so far in the league shows the mentality we have.
‘i’ve been on the end of a few b ********* s! it’s not pleasant — as you (journalists) will know. You do not want to get on the wrong side of him.
‘He’s a winner and he wants us to be winners. we have one trophy this season and have a great chance of another bit of silverware (scottish Cup), so now we can focus on that.’
saturday’s semi-final against Aberdeen gives Hibs the chance to move a step closer to defending the trophy they had waited so long to lift.
Clinching the Cup again would be a remarkable highlight for stevenson. the prospect of leaving the club had promotion not been sealed would have been unthinkable for the man who has seen it all.
‘if we had not got promoted, there would have been a void that i didn’t achieve,’ he added.
“We’ve come down and had low moments”