The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Brown cranks up pressure
Edinburgh derby: All eyes on Hibs, insists Billy
Hearts assistant manager Billy Brown claims Hibernian face all the added pressure going into tonight’s Scottish League Cup quarter-final derby.
Brown feels his team have been written off for the Easter Road match after a poor run of league form that has seen them take just one point from seven games and end the first round of fixtures facing the 15-point deficit they started off the season with. To compound matters, attacking player Ryan Stevenson is almost certain to miss out with a knee i njury to l eave administration- hit Hearts with just one
outfield player aged over 21, midfielder Jamie Hamill. Hibs had lost just once in nine games before their 2- 0 home defeat by Aberdeen on Saturday and their supporters will expectthemto avenge their August league defeat against their youthful Edinburgh rivals.
Brown feels his former club faces the burden of expectation tonight.
Brown, who was assistant to both Colin Calderwood and current manager Pat Fenlon at Easter Road, said: “I don’t think there are many games at this level where there is no pressure on. In derbies there is even more.
“But reading the papers and listening to everyone, they are not giving us a chance. As far as I can see, all the pressure is on Hibs.
“They have signed loads of players andthere are notmany clubswhopay £200,000 for a player and Hibs have (James Collins).
“So there is a financial outlay and big expectations for their supporters. They are at home, there are not many young players in the Hibs team and they are playing a young team.
“I would think, if there’s extra pressure in a game like this, it’s certainly not at this end of the city.”
But Hibernian captain James McPake has dismissed the claims from the Hearts camp that the pressure is ontheLeith team. McPake insisted there was only excitement emanating from inside the Hibs squad rather than any tension about the prospect of losing to their administration-hit city rivals for a second time this season.
The 29-year-old said: “There is the same pressure on both teams.
“I honestly don’t see any difference. Whether you have a team full of young kids or whether you have a team full of 35-year-olds, it doesn’t make it any easier in my opinion.
“It’s a game of football. In my opinion we’ve got the better squad, everybody would probably agree with that, but it doesn’t guarantee you win the game. You saw that at Tynecastle at the start of the season.”