'It's not true at all' - Hibs refute claims from last weekend's derby defeat by Hearts

A Scottish Cup semi-final victory over Hearts today would not erase the disappointment of Hibs’ league campaign – but it would ease it.

Given that it would also be widely unexpected, even among many Hibees, there would be a huge sense of satisfaction within the dressing room if they could pull off the turnaround in fortunes needed to give the club their first-ever win over the Jambos at Hampden and oust the Gorgie club from the Scottish Cup whilst also moving beyond their eighth domestic semi-final since lifting the trophy in 2016.

Since the Tynecastle side dealt the final blow to Hibs’ top six ambitions in last weekend’s final league derby of the season, leaving cup glory as the only remaining means to redemption and European competition, the criticism has stung.

But, with suggestions that too many in green-and-white chucked it, the management and players know that the only way they can soothe the pain and disprove that theory is by recapturing the form they showed in the opening 25 minutes of that game and finding a way to sustain those levels.

“It is difficult to hear but it is definitely not true,” said midfielder Jake Doyle-Hayes. “I don’t think we have any players who would want to chuck it or who threw in the towel in that second half. It is definitely not nice to hear but we need to prove people wrong and show that wasn’t the case.

“That’s definitely an incentive and the boys will be fuming hearing that stuff because it is not true at all. But Saturday gives us the opportunity to show people they are wrong.

“You understand the anger from the fans but at the end of the day it is up to us to show what we can do and we have good characters in the dressing room who can get the boys going and get morale lifted and