Hibs grant boss his birthday wish

St Johnstone 1

Hibs 3
(after extra time. 1-1 after 90 mins)

JOHN COLLINS arrived at Tynecastle determined to enjoy his 39th birthday but, after 120 minutes of torture, he admitted he felt as if he'd aged considerably after watching First Division St Johnstone almost wreck his side's CIS Insurance Cup hopes.

But, while the McDiarmid Park outfit took much of the praise from a pulsating semi-final at Tynecastle, it will be Collins who will lead his players out at Hampden on March 18 to face Kilmarnock.

As red-hot favourites to continue their march towards what they hope will be the club's first trophy in 16 years, the Easter Road outfit endured a nerve-wracking night before finally coming up with the extra-time goals to leave Saints empty-handed.

It needn't have been so nail-biting for the SPL side though, with Steven Fletcher getting them off to a dream start, firing home Ivan Sproule's pass with just two minutes and 38 seconds on the clock, a goal which probably led most of the green and white army which occupied three of the Gorgie stands to believe a repeat of the 6-0 hammering of current First Division leaders Gretna was firmly on the cards.

Whether scoring so early had a psychological impact on Collins' players - giving them the subconscious feeling that the game was over almost before it had begun - was something the manager couldn't quite put his finger on.

He said: "Normally when we score early the team is confident, everyone wants the ball and the opposition go a bit flat. We got off to a flier which I thought would have settled us down and allowed us to take control of the game."

Collins' belief looked well placed as Scott Brown, with another inspiring performance, clipped the top of Kevin Cuthbert's bar with a long-range drive but Saints slowly gained a foothold in the match although Hibs contributed to many of their problems with slack passing in dangerous areas. The greatest danger Saints posed, however, was through the aerial route with former Hearts star Kevin James indulging in a battle of the giants with Hibs skipper Rob Jones every time the ball was thrown into Andy McNeil's penalty area via a flurry of corners and free-kicks.

Collins said: "All credit to St Johnstone, they were magnificent. I'd watched them twice in the past three weeks and they certainly didn't play like that. They were up for the game, they looked sharp and hungry.

"Our passing was not good, our touch was a little bit off."

For all Saints ended the first-half as the dominant force, they didn't manage to tease a save from McNeil and their boss Owen Coyle continuing to kick the ground in front of his dug-out in frustration as he saw more half-chances, opportunities which the former striker would most probably have taken in his prime, go a-begging.

But the Perth club finally got their reward as substitute Filipe Morais raced clear to deliver a cross which saw a looping header from the impressive Jason Scotland drop over the head of McNeil, the first goal Hibs had conceded in the tournament.

Saints may well have earned their 30 minutes of extra-time but their dream was shattered just 120 seconds into that period as David Murphy curled a free-kick around the defensive wall and beyond the desperate grasp of Cuthbert.

Collins said: "David has a wonderful left-foot and I've been asking him for a goal recently and finally he has delivered. It was a wonderful strike and gave us the momentum and energy."

Coyle's players, however, mounted a last-ditch assault on McNeil's goal in a bid to force an equaliser to take their chances on a penalty shoot-out but as Hibs, with Jones outstanding in the centre of defence, stood firm, substitute Abdessalam Benjelloun delivered the killer third goal with only seconds remaining.

Started by a throw-out from McNeil, Hibs swept the length of the pitch with Brown supplying the final pass for Benji to round Cuthbert and then full-back Andy Lawrie before knocking the ball home for his fourth goal in as many games.

Coyle was furious that referee Craig Thomson hadn't spotted Benji's trip on Allan McManus off-the-ball in the build-up to the goal, implying the Moroccan star was a cheat by saying: "If that's how he wants to play football..."

However, Benji insisted the clash with McManus was purely accidental with both players having their eyes on the ball, adding: "Their manager called me a cheat but I did not listen to him.

"It was an accident and the referee did not give a foul. I spoke with their player after the game and there was no problem."

And the Moroccan told of his relief as his ninth goal of the season ensured there would be no chance of the lottery of a penalty shoot-out having suffered the agony of losing in the Moroccan Cup final as his club Moghreb Fes faced OCK three years ago.

He said: "I don't like penalties because 90 per cent of the time the smaller team wins. I lost 5-4 that way with my Moroccan club. I didn't take one that day but perhaps I would have last night but thankfully it didn't come to that.

"It was a nervous night. Perhaps our fans thought it would be easy for us but it was very hard, St Johnstone are a good team and when it was 1-1 everyone was a little bit anxious.

"Scoring the third goal was terrific because they were pushing for another equaliser but that meant the game was over. Now we have a great opportunity to win a cup, something this club hasn't done for a few years."

Collins, too, was delighted to be heading to Hampden at the first time of asking, but his emotions were tempered by relief. He said: "It was very hard work, not good for my hairs which was starting to fall out, but when it looked like we were struggling we dug deep and got the result we wanted.

"We could have killed the game off with a third goal before we did but sometimes in football you do not get the performance you want. We strive every week for a performance and result but this time we got the result and not the performance we were after.

"The momentum swung St Johnstone's way when they scored but we kept going and the young substitutes [Lewis Stevenson and Kevin McCann] who came on did very well. It was not an easy game for them to come on in but they worked their socks off, did very well and all credit to them.

"I'm delighted to be heading to Hampden."