FORMER Hibs and Celtic ace John Collins has revealed his bold prediction for Sunday's Premier Sports Cup final.
Collins, who spent time at Celtic as a player and assistant and played for and managed Hibs, reckons all the pressure is on Ange Postecoglou's side.
But he's backing Celtic to rise to the occasion and defeat Hibs who will be led by caretaker boss David Gray at Hampden.
Collins has predicted a 3-1 victory for Celtic in the showpiece final.
Speaking to William Hill he explained: “I think Celtic will win on Sunday and score three goals. I’ll go 3-1. If Kyogo (Furuhashi) is on the pitch he’ll score.
"(David) Turnbull and (Tom) Rogic won’t be far away from the scoresheet as well.
"That’s the challenge for Hibs, to stop those players in the final third. Hibs will need a top-class performance from all of their players.”
And while Collins has backed Celtic to lift the trophy, he urged Hibs players to "be brave" in their quest for silverware.
He warned the first goal will be vital with Celtic unlikely to give up a lead in the final if they go ahead.
He continued: “I believe they will go into the cup final with no pressure. Nobody expects Hibs to win it, except maybe the die-hard Hibs fans. The pressure is on Celtic, the expectation is on Celtic.
"As a Hibs player going into the final, they’ve got to go for it, be brave… If you get beat 1-0 or 5-0 it’s the same thing. Be brave, go and try and get that first goal and don’t be too cautious.
"To win the game, Hibs have got to score first. If Celtic score first, it’s very unlikely Hibs will come back and win the game. Celtic just tend not to lose when they go in front.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here