Why ex-Hibs ace Liam Henderson has Rangers' Andy Halliday to thank for his 2016 Scottish Cup exploits

Liam Henderson assisted twice in the 2016 Scottish Cup final. Picture: SNSLiam Henderson assisted twice in the 2016 Scottish Cup final. Picture: SNS
Liam Henderson assisted twice in the 2016 Scottish Cup final. Picture: SNS

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement.

Ex-Hibs ace Liam Henderson has revealed the significant part Rangers' Andy Halliday played in the Easter Road side's famous 2016 Scottish Cup win.

The Hibees came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 with goals from Anthony Stokes and David Gray in the final ten minutes of the game at Hampden Park.

Assisting both of the goals was Liam Henderson, the 70th-minute substitute.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The on-loan Celtic midfielder had to bide his time on the bench until Halliday had put Rangers ahead moments before the switch for Liam Fontaine.

Henderson told 90MinuteCynic said: "Before the game I knew I was going to be on the bench because we played Rangers in the league maybe three weeks or two weeks before the actual cup final and we played a 3-5-2 and we won the game.

"We went a wee bit more defensive against them and it worked. I might be on the bench in the cup final and I just had to be ready.

"As soon as Andy Halliday scored the goal to make it 2-1 Stubbs straight away 'Liam get warmed up'. I need to come on and make an impact here.

"One of the good things about Stubbs was he always told me, as soon as I came into Hibs, work on your free-kicks, work on your corners because if you can get that in your locker then it is a serious weapon.

"The day before a game we would do set plays and the gaffer would say 'Hendo, you go whip them in." I must have took 350 corners or more in training that season.

"I knew I was well prepared and I knew we had players who wanted to attack the ball. So I knew if I managed to get it into a good area someone would manage to get their head on it and Dave got his baldy napper onto it and it was a great header."