Next month, Hibs will play a well-known opponent in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup.
As he plans the demise of his former team, Ayr United manager Scott Brown has made a daring prediction for Hibs this season.
When David Gray’s team was dealt an away match against the Championship title contenders in the Scottish Cup fifth round draw earlier this week, there were some wry smiles on display. Hibs will be put to the test when they travel to Somerset Park to play an Ayr team that has only lost once in 16 home games this season.
But Hibs’ confidence has been bolstered by their recent improvement in performances and outcomes, and they go into this weekend’s league trip to Ross County knowing that, if other results go their way, a victory could move them within three points of the top four. The recent success of his former team has encouraged Ayr manager Brown, who played more than 100 games for Hibs before enjoying a trophy-filled 14-year tenure at Celtic. He thinks the team can make significant progress before the season ends.
He responded to a question on whether he saw the draw on the team’s official X (formerly Twitter) account by saying: “Yeah, I’d like to say thanks to Alan Hutton for that one.” One of my former clubs, but it will be excellent for the team and its supporters. It would also be great for the club if the venue was packed. However, it’s also a fantastic chance to observe how far we’ve gone since entering the building a year ago. As soon as we arrived here, we headed to Rangers for the cup, and it was a challenging match. We are aware of our expectations; I felt we performed admirably that day, but we lost by a score of two to one.
It’s difficult to get here, the pitch is a little bit narrower, and we have to be on our game since Hibs is a top-tier team with an incredible roster. They appear to have turned the corner, playing some excellent football and winning a lot of games, and they have a fantastic management. Right now, I think they’ll likely finish in third place in the league. In that league, they are gaining ground. It’s a fantastic chance for our guys, and you want to compete against elite teams and show how far we’ve come.
With an average home attendance of just less than 2,700, the Championship promotion contenders are currently the fifth-best-supported team in the second division. The fifth-round matchup with Hibs is anticipated to be played in front of a crowd of more than 6,500, though, and Brown wants his team to draw inspiration from their fans as they attempt to pull off a huge upset.
“We want to see this place filled all the time, so it’s great for us,” he said. Since we first arrived, the fans have been amazing, so we’re hoping they’ll stick behind us, show up in large numbers, and support us as well. They’ll be a tremendous assistance to us during that game.
“We must get off to a great start, remain composed when handling the ball, and enter the game with the belief that you can shock the opposition because that is the last thing we want—to enter a game like that feeling defeated. No matter who comes our way, whether it’s Hibs, Rangers, or Celtic, I believe we always have a chance.
