Derek Adams takes heart from famous win over Hibees

Adams, who had a six-month spell as assistant manager to Colin Calderwood at Hibs, was in charge of the Staggies when they beat Hibs in the cup back in 2010.

Although both sides are practically unrecognisable from that day, Adams is hoping that County can draw some confidence from being able to pull off a shock back then.

Having drawn 2-2 at Easter Road, the then-First Division outfit shocked Hibs in the replay, running out 2-1 winners on the night thanks to goals from Garry Wood and Scott Boyd after Anthony Stokes had opened the scoring at Dingwall.

Not only did they beat Hibs in the quarter-finals but they went on to dump Celtic out at the semi-final stage, only to lose to Dundee United in the final.

Adams recalled: “That was the year we got to the Scottish Cup final. We played very well at Easter Road, drew 2-2 and then went back up to Dingwall a couple of weeks later and won 2-1 on the night. It was a shock result because Hibs were in the Premier League and we were in the First Division.

“It was the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup and everyone expected Hibs to go through but we beat them and went on the beat Celtic in the semi-final

“But these are two totally different teams from that night. Players have moved on and players have come in. But we have great memories of how well we did that night and hopefully we can do the same again this weekend.”

Just a few months after that memorable cup win, Adams quit Ross County to move to Edinburgh and work alongside Calderwood at Easter Road.

He stayed with Hibs until May 2011 although, having seen so many players come and go from Easter Road in the time which has passed since, Adams insisted that his previous connections with the club have not left him with any insight into how Hibs will approach today’s game.

Adams continued: “We have been doing well and we are looking forward to Hibs coming up. It is a big game for us, but I think it is also a big game for Hibernian.

“I was there for six months and there are still a lot of people that I talk to from my time at the club and I always keep an eye out to see how they are doing, look for their results at the weekend, but things have changed dramatically since I was at Hibs.

“They’ve had a good start to the season and have been doing very well.

“One of our main aims this season is to win as many games at home as we possibly can and that will be the case again today when we play Hibs, it doesn’t really matter if I used to work there.

“I don’t really have any inside knowledge on the team because the players are so diffierent, there are a lot of new faces and the team lines up very differently to when I was there.

“There are not too many players still at Hibs from my time at the club, apart from maybe guys like Paul Hanlon, David Wotherspoon and Lewis Stevenson. Other than that, it is a completely revamped side.

“Hibs have certainly turned things around from last season but the main thing for me is that if we win then we can close the gap on Hibs to just four points – and Hibs are in second position right now.

“It looks like it is going to be a very tight SPL this season. We are looking to win this game although we know that Hibs will have an added confidence because of the good start they have had. I am sure it will be a good game.”

Despite losing their last three league matches, Adams has been satisfied by the way his team has performed so far this season and is hoping that they will find their shooting boots against Pat Fenlon’s side today.

He said: “We have done particularly well. We have lost our last three games in the SPL, which has obviously been  disappointing, but at the same time I think we have played well in those matches.

“To be honest I think we have been unfortunate not to have taken anything from those games but we need to make sure we are more clinical in front of goal. That has been our biggest problem in recent games but I am sure we will get there. We have played a number of games over the international break, just to keep the players ticking along, and I think everyone is looking forward to getting back to competitive matches, especially when it’s a home game.

“We’ve actually got an important spell coming up, we play Hibs today, next weekend we are down in Edinburgh for the game against Hearts at Tynecastle and then we’re back at home the following weekend against Aberdeen.

“We know they will all be difficult games but it’s a spell of matches we are all looking forward to. We have done well at home in the past and hopefully that can continue this season.”