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Hibs striker Grant Holt insists scoring in Wednesday’s convincing Scottish Cup derby victory over Hearts was the perfect way to end his four month goal drought.
The vastly experienced former Norwich City player notched his side’s second goal in the 3-1 replay success after finding the net from close range from Jason Cummings’ lay-off.
Holt, who now has four for the season, rediscovered his touch in front of goal for the first time since netting in the 2-0 victory over St Mirren on October 29 but the 35-year-old insists there is no better feeling than scoring against your sworn city rivals.
He said: “I don’t think you can explain to anyone what it actually feels like to score in a derby unless you’ve actually done it.
“I know that sounds awful and I’m very lucky and privileged enough to do it.
“It felt great to get it in the derby, I’ve not scored enough goals this year. It’s great to score in a derby.
“If you’re going to score you want to score in a derby, that drought stems back to October and it was about time I started scoring.
“The boys have been good, a bit of banter here and there but I’m happy. I’m playing football and we’re winning games, we’re seven points clear in the league and we dominated Hearts over two games in two derby matches.”
Holt’s strike partner Cummings has had no such problems in finding the net after notching his 17th of the campaign with a clinical opener in Wednesdays fifth round replay.
But the Englishman insists part of the reason that Cummings is so successful is that he does all his dirty work.
Speaking to Hibs TV, he added: “We’ve got Jason Cummings scoring goals left, right and centre.
“I keep getting hit and knocked and it’s funny because I was probably on the floor about 20 times the other night, yet he’s walked off with a clean strip on.
“I’m obviously doing something right. I’ve always said from the start of the season that my aim is to be here and to get Hibs back up the division where they belong. I don’t mind if I score one goal or 50 goals, my aim is to get us up by hook or crook.”
The sell-out Hibs support sung a spine-tingling rendition of Sunshine on Leith as the players enjoyed a lap of honour at full-time and Holt insists it was the ideal ending to a memorable evening.
He added: “To stand there in a packed house singing Sunshine on Leith, what more can you want?
“It was fantastic, we knew what we were going to get after last week, I thought our fans were absolutely fantastic when we were at Hearts last week. We knew it would be the same on Wednesday and from start to finish they didn’t stop singing.
“To be fair the boys worked their socks off and gave them the reason to sing. We had boys working their socks off, Marvin Bartley getting cramp in the 92nd minute.
“People put their bodies on the line and we had bruised bodies in that changing room but that’s what derbies are about, what you get for the hard work is what you get at the end.”
