Hibs star sets sights on Celtic double after battling ‘two best players in league’

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Hibs’ Scottish Cup clash with Celtic may now be looking a little less daunting after beating the league leaders on Saturday.

The Hibees landed the holders in the Scottish Cup quarter-final draw after edging out Ayr United in the last round, an away trip to the Hoops pretty much the last tie them or any other side would have wanted.

But they overcame Brendan Rodgers’ side on Premiership duty, a 2-1 victory at home, and David Gray hailed double hero Josh Campbell for doing the work of a man and a half.

Celtic were actually the last team to beat the Easter Road men on December 7 and they have since embarked on an astonishing 13-game unbeaten run, including the victories over Ayr and Clydebank in the cup.

Massive league games against Dundee United, three points ahead of them, and an Edinburgh derby clash with Hearts are coming up this week before the cup clash.

They will certainly take confidence from the weekend but two more results this week would set them up nicely for the trip to Glasgow.

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Kieron Bowie eyes Hibs Scottish Cup win

Hibs striker Kieron Bowie insists sights are set on winning the Scottish Cup for the first time since 2016, which would obviously require getting one over on Celtic again.

The striker, a summer signing from Fulham, points out they’ve shown they can do it and lifting the trophy therefore has to be the dream.

It was before the tough draw and will remain so.

Speaking after the win on Saturday, he said: “Obviously, we went into the Scottish Cup thinking this is a possibility, we can win this. And now, obviously, we’ve shown what we can do against that opposition, we can hopefully do that again.

“We’ve shown 13 games now unbeaten, I think that’s a club record. We’ve shown what we can do after a really tough start and I was in the stand watching the lads for the majority of it.

“The main thing now, the message is just top six, cement our place in the top six and then after that we look forward. But it’s been a really good season and, hopefully, it can have a really good end to it as well.”

Bowie takes heart from Carter-Vickers and Trusty battle

Bowie has technical quality but also puts himself about and relished a battle with Cameron Carter-Vickers and Auston Trusty.

After swapping shirts with the former, he joked: “I don’t know if he wanted my shirt, but I got his anyway! I just thought I should get someone’s shirt, so I just went to the kitman and asked him and he said yeah but you need to give him yours.

“Obviously they’re the two best defenders in the league, so to put a bit of pressure on them and to know that I can go up against them is really good. It gives me a lot of confidence.

“They’re used to dominating the ball and they did, but when it came forward, we were just trying to get on them and not let them have any time. At the start, you just want to sort of ease into the game, you don’t want to do anything stupid and, obviously, I’ve managed to play my part in the goal.

“I like to think I can do a lot of technical stuff, but then also I can put defenders under a bit of pressure and then the lads can play off me. You just want to go out there and improve yourself and I feel like I’ve started to do that. All that’s missing now is a goal. So we just need another few and then we’ll be there.”