Halliday consigns 2016 final to history as he seeks Hampden glory with Hearts
As Andy Halliday heads back to Hampden as a Hearts player for Saturday’ s Scottish Cup semi-final with Hibs, he returns to a venue which has brought some of the toughest moments of his career.
The four previous occasions on which he stepped onto the Mount Florida pitch – all representing boy hood club Rangers–ended in heartache. Three times he has been on the losing end of an Old Firm derby.
On the fourth occasion he was in the team defeated by Hibs in the 2016 Scottish Cup final.
That day in May could have been different for the 29-yearold. After ducking away from two opponents, his howitzer put the Ibrox side ahead with under 30 minutes left on the clock.
Yet, in the final ten minutes Hibs turned the game on its head and Halliday had a painful view of the winner as the closest Rangers player to David Gray who headed past Wes Foderingham to seal a 3-2 win.
Ever since, the Easter Road supporters have sung about that success with Halliday’s name included in the lyrics.
It would be easy to imagine the player eyeing Saturday’s showdown as a personal mission to avenge those memories.
That, however, is not the case. Saturday presents a new opportunity at a new club in a new era of his career.
Halliday, who started his first game of football since February in last Friday’s 1-0 win over Arbroath, will not be running out at Hampden thinking about his past as a Rangers player but the possibilities as a Hearts player.
“It isn’t about me, it is about Hearts and knowing how important it is for everyone at this club,” he said. “You want to win every competition you enter but it is special that it is Hibs at Hampden in a semifinal.
"For me, I want to win my first major trophy. The ones I have won so far won’t mean as much as winning one of the major honours.
“The Hibs game in 2016 is in the past but it was disappointing.
"This is a new occasion, I always look to the future and I want to win my first major honour.
“It will be difficult as there are other teams in the competition who are fancied more than us but we have the belief we can win this game.”
“Some people will say we are underdogs but we don’t. Expectations are (those of ) a big club and we are putting demands on ourselves.
"We aren’t going into it with an under dog mentality, we want to cause an upset and we believe with the group of players we have that we can do that. If we play well we can more than match Hibs.
"The first 15 minutes will be important for us. In derby games you expect both teams to fly out the traps.
“Hibs have played more games than we have. and are doing well so far in the league. They will try to beat us to the punch. We have to be on our guard and I am sure the gaffer has a game plan ready and if we stick to it hopefully the result will take care of itself.”