A Miracle at Easter Road

There was no sunshine on Leith for us. It poured down. But the rain did not dampen the spirits of the Hamilton Accies fans who had travelled through to Edinburgh for the second leg of the Premiership Play-Off Final.

Hibs were two goals up after the first leg and the majority of our support, discouraged by that result and the dismal weather, opted to watch it on television. But my sons and I were there. As boys I had taken them to Alloa, Brechin, Coatbridge…Walking into this stadium for a game of this significance felt special. Were we about to witness a miracle at Easter Road?

I was doubtful. Hibs surely had an assailable lead. They were playing at home in front of a capacity crowd. They surely couldn’t lose the tie, could they? Could they?

My sons thought that they could. They thought that their confidence that the tie was over was misplaced. They were sure that if we were to get the first goal at Easter Road, then we would go on to win. Really? Unlikely, I thought.

But then Scotland scored! Jason Scotland! The veteran striker used all his experience to turn a Hibs defender and fire a shot past the keeper after only 13 minutes. Now the capacity crowd was not an advantage to Hibs. Howls of anguish mingled with snarls of derision. You could feel the fear. The tension was tangible. And the players shared their jitters, making mistakes all over the pitch. My hopes of promotion were resurrected.

We believed that a second goal would come. And it did. They left it late though – the third minute of stoppage time. We were more than mildly pleased. We were elated and ecstatic. We were joyful and jubilant. Accies had come back from the dead at Easter Road.

Accies pressed for a winner but the tie would be decided through the drama of a penalty shoot-out. Accies had nothing to lose. The pressure was all on Hibs. Even if they scraped through now they would still be scorned for their capitulation in the capital. Victory for Accies seemed inevitable.

Standing with my sons, we mirrored the stance of the players in the centre circle in a spirit of unity and camaraderie. This was history, something they could tell their children – 'We were there with your granddad.' Something to pull me back to them if in my old age I was slipping away from them – 'Dad, do you remember when…'

Another Jason, the much younger Jason Cummings had scored his first goals for Hibs in the first leg at Hamilton and had thought that they would ensure Hibs’ survival in the Premier League. Now the cocky eighteen-year old suffered the ignominy of missing the decisive penalty.

Let the celebrations begin…

Leaving the ground, I phoned my wife: 'We’re going to be late home…' A lot of us were making that call on the way back to the city centre.

'Don’t hang about here, boys,' a police officer advised, 'not everyone’s as happy as you are.'

We could hear them protesting outside the stadium. The Hibs fans were making clear their displeasure at how their season had ended.

And as for Accies:

Our fans debate whether it would have been better to have won the league and have been promoted as champions that season but none of us that were there would ever forsake the adventure and the ultimate glory of that play-off. My sons and I certainly wouldn’t. Our best day ever supporting Accies. Our Academical journey continues...