Robbie Neilson urges Hearts to seize their moment as he reveals Josh Ginnelly latest

Hearts manager Robbie Neilson is urging players to seize their moment against Hibs as they stand 90 minutes away from a Scottish Cup final.

Robbie Neilson knows time is short in football as he urges Hearts to push for a cup final.

Neilson spent ten years as a Hearts player and reached only one cup final in that period. He lifted the Scottish Cup after a penalty shootout win against Gretna in 2006.

Ironically, that followed an inspired 4-0 semi-final defeat of Hibs. The manager has underlined the opportunity open to his team in Saturday’s all-Edinburgh tie at Hampden Park.

“It’s a massive opportunity for everyone to get to a cup final,” he told the Evening News. “Players and coaches go through their entire careers and never get to a Scottish Cup final. We are one game away from it.

“Not only is it a derby game, which we know is always big for everyone, but it’s a Scottish Cup semi-final. We are 90 minutes from a final which would be brilliant for the club.

“People speak about Hearts as the third or fourth biggest team in Scotland but it’s still difficult to get to these cup finals. The chance doesn’t come along too often so we need to make sure we’re ready for it.

“We came back early for pre-season to prepare for it. The boys are in a good place and looking forward to getting out at Hampden.”

Craig Wighton is pushing for a starting place after scoring Hearts’ winner in last week’s league match at Arbroath. He also struck a hat-trick against Raith Rovers in the Betfred Cup earlier this month.

“He has been great since I came in,” said Neilson, who left Dundee United to return to Hearts in June. “I’ve been speaking a lot about him recently because of what he’s been doing, scoring goals and playing well.

“He has started believing in himself, which is great. He is definitely in the plans for Saturday, that’s for sure.”

Hearts hope to have all of their players fit with the exception of John Souttar, who is a long-term absentee due to a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The only other player causing concern is winger Josh Ginnelly. He was taken off in last week’s league match at Arbroath with a thigh injury and remains touch-and-go to face Hibs.

Captain Steven Naismith, plus midfielders Peter Haring and Andy Halliday all played against Airdrie in a bounce match on Tuesday. They have been short of competitive action recently but are ready for the semi-final.

“They all got 60 minutes against Airdrie so they should all be in a decent place. They are fine and they’ve trained well. They should all be there or thereabouts come Saturday,” reported Neilson.

“Jordan Roberts is fine, everyone is fine. It’s just Ginnelly and we will give him as long as we can. It will be a long shot but we need to give him every opportunity and he is desperate.

“Even if he can’t start, it might be a place on the bench to get him some sort of game time. We still think there’s a chance. We definitely want him involved if possible because he’s done really well for us.”

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