Hibs defender Siobhan Hunter explains what is means to make 250 appearances – and turning down AC Milan

Siobhan Hunter believes playing for Hibs is a “real honour” as the defender looks towards “very difficult” SWPL semi-final tie against Glasgow City.

The Scottish international reached 250 appearances for the club last month after being at Hibs since she was only nine years old. Being a Hibs fan herself, Hunter believes appearing so many times for her childhood club is “special” and the 28-year-old is hoping for many more over the coming years.

“Yeah it was really good, I enjoyed it”, she told Edinburgh Evening News. “To play for this club, it is a real honour and to be able to do it this many times is really special. It was great going to Easter Road last week.

“I grew up a Hibs fan so to be able to go out onto the pitch in front of all the fans it was great, and I can only thank the club for that because it was such a special day for me and my family. It’s something I will eventually be able to tell my grandkids, so it was a real honour and I loved it, I got a good reception which was really nice.

Siobhan Hunter acknowledges Hibs will be "underdogs" against Glasgow City. Picture: SNS

“As a child I always wanted to be a Hibs player, so to be able to be here for these many years is a real honour. I’ve had a few offers over the years. I went on trial to AC Milan. The timing probably wasn’t right, so I stayed at Hibs at the time. If you need to challenge yourself, back then we were only part time and to play full-time was an option elsewhere. I didn’t necessarily want to leave the club, but at that time a full-time environment was probably where most of the interest was at. It is obviously part of the club now here at Hibs and I am happy here and hopefully I can be here a few more years.”

Since making her debut in 2012, Hunter has won numerous trophies, including three Scottish Women’s Cups and four SWPL Cups, the last of which came in 2018. With the club facing their old league title rivals Glasgow City on Sunday, Hunter hopes Hibs can past that test and go onto win the cup again.

“We have to have that belief that we can win it,” she stated. “If you don’t believe then you are never going to win it so we are believe we are going to get to the final and win the competition. We need to make sure we get the win on Sunday. It will be very difficult, but I’m sure Glasgow City will have the same approach as they will be expected to win as well.

“They are probably favourites in the competition right now, but I think that takes pressure off us so we can focus on ourselves and we don’t have to listen to the background noise on it. We are a bit more of a fortunate position where we don’t have everyone expecting us to win so slight underdogs, but we are really looking forward to it.”