Exclusive:'I know': Hibs left in no doubt about Hearts clash as potential hero accepts mission
Suto talks Sunshine on Leith sing-along hopes, super sub status - and early lessons in football’s special relationships
Ante Suto gets it. And that’s worth a great deal, when it comes to handling the peculiarities and pressures of a game with the potential to set the mood of supporters for a long time to come.
As Hibs head into the final Edinburgh derby of the campaign, fan sentiment surrounding this showdown is fairly transparent. Among the home crowd at Easter Road on Sunday, there may be disagreements on the finer points of football – but unanimity when it comes to the big question.
Throwing an oversized spanner in the works of this Hearts machine is a non-negotiable. An absolute necessity, if Hibs are to salvage something from a strange season – and do their bit in avoiding a truly unbearable period of gloating from across the city.
Because rivalry isn’t just part of football. It’s at the heart of the beautiful game. Driving it, damning its followers to suffer and, yes, even dragging it down into the depths on occasion.
Easter Road celebrations after December derby win
As Suto talks dreamily about getting his own Sunshine on Leith moment of celebration in front of a rapturous home crowd, then, he knows that this weekend’s fixture is about more than just winning. Because, yeah, he gets it.
In a conversation about the nature of competitive spirit, the 25-year-old – already a cult hero among Hibs fans, still just a matter of weeks into his Easter Road career – was asked when he first realised that, in football, making sure the ‘other lot’ lose was as important as the thrill of victory itself.
“Since the beginning,” said Socceroos hopeful Suto, who was born and raised in what the guide books call Croatia’s Dalmation hinterland. “I live in a village and we played against the village next to us. It's a rivalry from the beginning.
“You are with those people in school, but in a game you want to beat them. You can have fun with them in school for a whole year.
“So I know about rivalry. It's a good thing to have.
“I mean, fans here don’t come up and talk to me about it in the city. Not really. But I get messages from them. I know what kind of game this is.”
Suto had played precisely 27 minutes of football for Hibs, and scored one dramatic late winner against Dundee United at Easter Road in February, when he was first thrown into derby action as a substitute less than a week later. The deadline-day signing experienced half-an-hour of toil and tussle at Tynecastle, in a game that went the way of the home side via a late goal from Tomas Magnusson.
Since then, the former Slaven Belupo attacker has banged in another three goals from just two starts. And the ultimate impact sub – a tag he’d like to lose, obviously – has also earned his first international call-up for Australia.
Reflecting on how much has changed since that bleak night in Gorgie, he pointed out: “My first game against Hearts, I only played one game before that. So it was new to me.
“But when I was coming here to Hibs, when people found out about it, I got a lot of messages about that game. I knew the rivalry between the two clubs. I knew how big of a game it was.
“No, there wasn’t really anything that surprised me about the game. The atmosphere was good. I liked it. There were a lot of our fans at the opposition ground.
“Now it's even more special because it's a home game. We want to win.
“I saw a lot of videos after the last derby at Easter Road, the win in December, all of our fans singing the song with the players. I want to experience that soon.
“I want to win in the next game – and I want to experience the afterwards when the game is over. I'm looking forward to it.
“Now it's a big game for us, at this part of the season. Of course we want three points.
“We still have our own targets. Motherwell is three points up. We played against them last game of the season at home.
“It's in our hands, in our legs. We have five more games left. Of course, we want to win all of them. We're going to try to win all of them, but who knows?”
Half-century Euro history up for grabs
The race to overtake Motherwell and finish in fourth place, with its guaranteed crack at the UEFA Conference League, carries obvious importance for a club whose last back-to-back seasons of qualifying for Europe came just the 50 years ago. Suto obviously hopes to play a part.
Settled in Edinburgh and bonded with some of his fellow January signings, with Felix Passlack already a close pal, the combative frontman has really embraced life as a Hibs player. Helped by the fact that he’s already a favourite among supporters.
“The fans here like me because I started well,” he points out, adding: “My first impression of them was the best one. To score a winner in the last minute. It gives me more motivation to work harder.
“Even in the games, if I'm tired, they push me to be the best. I like it when I hear them cheering me or singing for me.
“When I first arrived, I just needed to pick up the pace of the league, of the training, because it's much different than in Croatia. Then I started two games.
“After that, it was the national team. After the national team, jet lag and all that.
“I think I'm doing a good job. I train well, I play okay. Whenever I'm on the pitch, five, ten, 30 minutes or the whole game, I'm going to give 100 per cent.
“As a player, you know you want to play, but still, every opportunity you can get, you use it 100 per cent. In the end, the only thing that matters is a win. If we win, and I play 30 or 60 minutes, it's the same.
“I mean, yeah, the guys who arrived in January are doing well. A lot of goal involvements. We started well. I hope we will finish well.”