Lewis Stevenson speaks on 500 appearances for Hibs and 'strange' Celtic build-up

Lewis Stevenson admitted it was strange making his 500th appearance for Hibs against Celtic after a full day of build-up dominated by the Hoops’ mid-season trip to Dubai and subsequent Covid-19 chaos.
Lewis Stevenson made his 500th appearance for Hibs when he came on for Josh DoigLewis Stevenson made his 500th appearance for Hibs when he came on for Josh Doig
Lewis Stevenson made his 500th appearance for Hibs when he came on for Josh Doig

The long-serving left-back was a half-time replacement for Josh Doig, who was struggling with a hamstring complaint, as the Capital club scored an injury-time equaliser through Kevin Nisbet to earn a share of the spoils after going a goal down to David Turnbull’s 81st-minute free kick.

Speaking after the game Stevenson said: “It’s been a strange day all round with the build up and speculation and everything going on and it’s strange anyway coming here with no fans.

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"I’m a bit gutted with the result; I’m glad we didn’t get beaten but we should have been better. The final ball was sometimes lacking.

"To come away with nothing would have been a travesty so I’m glad we got the point, even if we could have got the win.

"We showed good character to come back and hopefully the point can be the start of a better run."

Stevenson has now made 500 appearances for Hibs in his 16 years at the club, taking him ahead of the likes of Eddie Turnbull and closing in on another Famous Five legend in Willie Ormond, who racked up 502 matches for the club.

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Stevenson continued: “There aren’t many players who have managed 500 games for Hibs and I’m in pretty good company up there. It’s been a long build-up and I’m just glad it’s over now so we can stop talking about it.

"In some ways I’m glad all the coronavirus chat took the spotlight off me.”

On that note, the 32-year-old revealed that the Easter Road squad had been desperate to play the game despite a lack of certainty as the kick-off drew nearer.

"We really wanted to play the game,” he insisted. “There was a lot going on; we see everything on Twitter but try and take it with a pinch of salt.

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“We wanted to come here and we thought we had a good chance of winning. We probably should have, but we’ll take the point.”

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