Kallum Higginbotham believes Dunfermline will find it far harder to sink Hearts in this year’s Betfred Cup now the Jam Tarts fans have given up the boos.
The clubs face each other this afternoon at East End Park, 12 months on from the Pars’ penalty-kicks victory in the capital that knocked Hearts out of the tournament at the group stage.
Higginbotham accepts the Premiership pace-setters are likely to prove a completely different prospect to that last meeting, when the under-fire Ian Cathro was still in charge at Tynecastle and the tie finished with supporters demanding he be sacked.
But he is hopeful the Pars can shake off last Saturday’s defeat to Ross County to rise to the occasion again as they bid to reach the quarter-finals and send nearly 5,000 Hearts fans home unhappy.
He said: “It highlights how important fans can be. If the fans are right behind you, you seem to get that extra positive, that extra 10 per cent.
“But if they go the other way and they are booing every touch or calling for the manager’s head then you saw how that works out.
“I thought last year at Tynecastle we were the better team and deservedly got the result we needed.
“But if the fans had been on their side then it might have been a lot harder to go and play there.
“So, them coming here on Saturday with that backing, means it is going to be a really tough game.
“But it’s one I know everyone in our dressing room is looking forward to. That’s the sort of games you get into football for.
“I think they have sold four and a half thousand tickets so there will be a great atmosphere against a great club and a great team that is flying high at the minute.
“We will go into it as the home team, we will be positive like we have been in every game so far.
“We had a setback on Saturday, so we need to put that behind us and look forward to this Saturday and the chance to test ourselves against a Premiership side, which is the level we all want to be playing at.”
Dunfermline breezed through their group earlier in the competition, defeating Dundee at Dens Park on their way to four wins from four.
Last weekend’s 3-1 loss to County was a reality check for the Pars after they opened their league campaign with a victory against Dundee United, their first at Tannadice in seven years.
And Higginbotham thinks Hearts’ 1-0 win over Celtic proves how hard it will be for the Fifers to progress.
He added: “To beat Celtic, at home or not, is a fantastic result and over the previous seasons Hearts have always given them trouble when playing at Tynecastle.
“They will come here full of confidence and they will be coming here fully expecting to win.
“We know we will be the underdogs but hopefully we can cause a cup upset.”
