Paul Hanlon says Scottish Cup final-bound Hibs have silenced critics who questioned their big-match bottle.
Jack Ross’ side easily saw off Dundee United 2-0 in Saturday’s semi to book a return to Hampden to face St Johnstone on May 22 in the season-ending showpiece.
There were major question marks going into the United clash as Hibs had already lost two semi-finals this term, to St Johnstone in the Betfred Cup and to Hearts in last season’s delayed Scottish Cup semi.
Hanlon, who won the cup with the Easter Road outfit five years ago, now wants to cap a success-filled season by sealing third at Aberdeen on Wednesday.
The captain said: “Yeah, I mean, questions have been asked of us because we’re a big club. But we’ve been getting ourselves in these situations time and time again.
“Unfortunately, twice this season we came out on the wrong end of the result.
“But that didn’t change our belief, going into this semi-final, that we had enough ability in our squad to get to the final. We proved the quality we have in attacking areas, the hard work all over the park, and were rewarded for that.”
Hanlon knows Hibs won’t get much time to celebrate as all eyes turn to their third versus fourth clash at Pittodrie. Hibs are three points ahead of their rivals and need a point from their last two games to seal third.
It would be the first time Hibs have finished that high in more than 15 years and Hanlon has never achieved that in his time as a first-team regular.
He admitted: “It’s huge for us to finish third. It’s 16 years since Hibs finished that high up the table, so it would be a massive achievement.
“I’ve never finished in that position as a first-team player, it’s massive for us. But it’s where the club wants to be and should be.”
