McInnes delighted to draw Hibs but is wary of their threat
WHETHER he would have been quite as candid had the draw worked out differently is another matter but Derek McInnes was refreshingly honest in stating that he was pleased not to have to deal with the champions at Hampden again, for now at least, after the Scottish Cup semi-final draw was made yesterday.
The Aberdeen manager even felt sufficiently confident of his ground in doing so as to speak on behalf of the man against whom he will now pit his wits in the semi-final as he suggested that Neil Lennon, his Hibs counterpart, will be of like mind on having avoided a clash with the club he won six Scottish Cups at, four as a player and two as their manager. “It’s a good draw. Hibs will see it exactly the same,” McInnes asserted. “If we’re all being honest, the three other teams wanted to avoid Celtic, the strongest team at the minute.”
However McInnes quickly added the caveat that made it clear that his team will be treating Hibs as the cup holders rather than as opponents from a lower division which they may, in any case, no longer be by the time the semi-final takes place on April 22.
“It’s nothing against Hibs. I’m sure Neil will be just as pleased as us,” McInnes reiterated. “In a semi-final you get tough opponents and we are up against an experienced manager who has experience of winning cups. They’re the holders and the players they have, it will be a very close game.”
He noted that Hibs have already faced one of the biggest possible challenges to a successful defence of their trophy by defeating Hearts in the fifth round. “They weren’t favourites in the last round but that counted for nothing,” McInnes said. “They’re arguably better than last year, when they weren’t expected to win but did and they will get a lift from beating their closest rivals. It is well documented how strong they are, so we will give them every respect.”
McInnes is anxious to see his side, that has looked the best other than Celtic this season in drawing clear in second place in the Premiership and having reached the League Cup final, give themselves another chance of rewarding that form with silverware
“We said at start of season we wanted to win two cups. One final didn’t go how we wanted, but we said after that game that we can start to feel better about ourselves by revisiting another final as quick as possible. We’re close now, so hopefully we can get to the final and find a performance to win the thing.”