Hibernian striker welcomes escape from pressures of league
HIBERNIAN and Dundee United will lock horns in Saturday’s William Hill Scottish Cup semifinal at Hampden bearing the hopes and expectations of their respective supporters.
Hibs, in particular, will be forced to carry the heavy burden of 114 years of misery in the competition. Forward Martin Boyle, however, reckons both sides will be relieved to get away from the stresses of their respective league campaigns.
Hibs’ charge for second in the Championship and a play-off semi-final berth has effectively stalled amid a barren run of one victory in eight. That includes Tuesday’s 2-2 draw, when the Leith outfit threw away a two-goal lead in the final three minutes against 10-man Falkirk.
At Tannadice, even the most optimistic United supporter will now acknowledge that their team are in grave danger of falling through the Premiership trapdoor. Mixu Paatelainen’s side have slipped eight points behind Kilmarnock with five games left.
“We will both be happy to get away from the league for a few days,” said former Dundee attacking midfielder Boyle. “It’s a Scottish Cup semi-final and it’s going to be a great occasion.
“It will be good for Dundee United to get away from it all. They will enjoy getting away from the league competition but they are down at the bottom for a reason.
“This is a cup game and anything can happen on the day. We need to get back to our best, starting from now. This is our mini-season starting from now.”
Boyle insists the league will remain their priority despite being one match away from a Scottish Cup final appearance.
“I wouldn’t trade promotion for the Scottish Cup,” he said. “Promotion has always been the aim this season, nothing else, but luckily we have the chance to do both.”
Hibs striker Jason Cummings refuses to wallow in self-pity over their recent poor form. He scored his team’s two goals in the draw against Falkirk, improving his tally to 23 for the season.
The Scotland Under-21 international insists Hibs will use the sight of Falkirk celebrating at Easter Road to drive them on to play-off glory.
He said: “We will face Falkirk again in the play-offs.
“We said after the game that we saw the Falkirk players jumping around and celebrating with their fans. We made a point of saying to each other, ‘Make sure that we don’t see that again.’
“It was Uncle Kev [Thomson] who mentioned it and said, ‘I hope you all saw that.’
“Sometimes that kind of thing acts as a spur and drives you on to get a bit of revenge on them after they celebrated like that.”
Asked why he calls former Rangers and Middlesbrough playmaker Thomson “Uncle”, Cummings said: “We call KT Uncle Kev because he helps a few of the younger boys like myself, Hendo [Liam Henderson] and John McGinn out a lot.
“He is a wise head in the changing room and he is like a father figure to some of the younger lads. He is good to talk to and ‘Uncle Kev’ has just stuck.”