Shaun Maloney in Hearts confession as Hibs boss talks up impact of returning star

Shaun Maloney knows hurting Hibs have the perfect chance for derby payback by souring Hearts’ season with a Scottish Cup semi-final win.

The Easter Road outfit were left frustrated and hurt last weekend as they lost 3-1 at Tynecastle and as a result missed out on the Premiership top six.

The Hibs boss is well aware that they can still put a silver-lining on their campaign by going all the way to the final and potentially denying the Jambos a money-spinning crack at the Europa League.

Robbie Neilson’s side have all but sealed third place in the league but if Hibs were to go all the way and lift the cup then they would push their rivals into the Europa Conference League.

Maloney, when asked if Hearts’ season could be soured on Saturday, replied: “Yes, it would be.

“They have been very consistent in the league but they also know that the first 25-30 minutes of last week’s game we were very good.

“They know if we produce that over 90 minutes — and that’s the big question — that we change the narrative of their season.”

Maloney and his team are pleased that it is back-to-back derbies as it is not only the road to Hampden but also to redemption.

He acknowledged: “Yes, it gives us a brilliant opportunity now to completely change our season and it also gives us an opportunity to change our rivals’ season — and they know that and the brilliant thing is that we know that as well.

“We have that opportunity very quickly after a big disappointment.

“The brilliant thing is this game comes so soon after a big disappointment.

“And we have a chance to change the narrative of our season, and in doing that we can change the narrative of our biggest rivals, and they’ll know that too.

“That’s in our hands, it’s up to our performance,