Ellis Notley reveals what factor may give Hibs an advantage in the Sky Sports Cup semi-final

The Hibees are looking to reach their second consecutive final in the cup but face a tough test. While Notley’s side has been in great form, Partick only sits two places below them in the SWPL1 and are only two points away from the capital side. However, the 24-year-old believes that the amount of Hibs fans planning to attend the semi-final may well give them the edge. 

“The more fans we can get to the game, the better,” she explained “We have a bus load coming in from Edinburgh and we appreciate their support every week. They come home and away. A high number of ticket sales only helps to promote the women's game and hopefully, we can put on a show for them. 

“We appreciate everyone that comes out to support us. They give us that extra drive and we will definitely be using that to our advantage. We can use it to feed our hunger and desire to win the game.”

Going into the tie, Hibs have certainly put together a great run of form. The side has won eight of their last nine games and has netted 21 times in their last three matches. The Christmas break has seemingly had no effect on the team with Notley’s side continuously pulling out multiple fantastic results. 

However, for many members of the squad, Sunday's game will be completely different. Many players in Hibs’ squad were not part of the side that made it to the final in the last campaign. Grant Scott opted to make wide-scale changes to the starting XI in the summer which has undoubtedly paid off. As a result, the club now has a mixture of experienced and young players in the squad which may help them going into Petershill Park. 

“We have picked up a good bit of momentum,” Notley added. “We have had different players playing minutes in the last couple of games since the Christmas break in order to prepare ourselves properly for Sunday. We are definitely going in with confidence but we also need to respect our opponent and be aware of the threat that they pose. 

“We are utilising the players we have got, everyone is getting match minutes in the last few weeks and everyone is contributing. Whether that’s defensively keeping clean sheets or making sure we are scoring goals and being ruthless against teams we are playing against. 

“We have a good mixture of experience and youth in our team. Every day we are all learning from each other, whether it is a young player learning from an experienced player or vice versa. Players with more experience have been in situations like this before. They are passing out bits of advice here and there as we prepare for Sunday.”