Hearts vs Hibs semi-final ticket sales latest as Jambos sell out allocation and Hibees reach deadline
Hearts and Hibs have both been selling tickets in their thousands for Sunday’s big game.
Hearts fans are poised to outnumber city rivals Hibs at Hampden Park this Sunday after selling out their allocation for the Edinburgh derby.
Wouter Vrancken’s Tynecastle side will enter the Premier Sports Cup semi-final as favourites as Hibs undergo initial teething issues under Marink Reedijk, with both managers aware of each other from time in Belgian football.
It’s understood that Hearts’ sell-out will see around 23,500 maroon-leaning fans travelling west for the game, over 4,000 more than Hibs, who still had more to sell ahead of the 3pm kick-off. Fans from Leith were given until 12pm on Friday to make a late call on the trip to Hampden, with some briefs available in the East Stand, and it is believed Hibs have sold around 18,500 to 19,000 upon the noon deadline.
What happened during Hearts and Hibs latest matches?
Rangers and Aberdeen meet in the other semi-final.
The Jambos drew at home with Rangers in midweek in the Premiership while Hibs took a point from their visit to St Mirren. Vrancken was disappointed Hearts only took a draw from the game against the Light Blues, having held a 2-1 lead, before Olwethu Makhanya’s 89th minute leveller. He said: “I can't tell you how proud I am of their performance, their team spirit and their fighting spirit. You're playing against a really good side who want to win the title, who spent a lot of millions during the summer and who aren't playing in Europe, so they have fewer games.
“They also had an extra day of recovery going into this match. When you consider their individual qualities and everything else, and then look at this performance from our players, including the difficulties we've had out of position and the situation we've been in, which we've already talked about many times, I'm really proud of what they did. It's nice to see that the players are frustrated.
“They're not so much frustrated as disappointed because they also felt that they had lost two points here. We had to win it. We had to take the victory. Especially when you consider how the game unfolded, going a goal behind because of a mistake, then producing a really good first half and maintaining that level afterwards.
Marink Reedijk on St Mirren 1-1 Hibs
Reedijk meanwhile said of his team’s 1-1 draw with St Mirren: “It's a little bit of a double feeling for me. When you're so close to the win, especially when you score relatively late and then concede, it feels like a disappointment.
“However, it was good to see a dominant team again, defending on the front foot and regaining a lot of balls high up the pitch. We stayed patient, although the opponent built a block in front of their own box, but we did well, kept on fighting, kept doing things together and maintained our intensity.
“That was brilliant to see, and again we're seeing steps forward, and now we're also making a little step in terms of points. I wanted it to be a bigger step, though, and take home all three three points.”