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Your support makes all the difference.The ibernian manager Bobby Williamson is hoping to take his second trophy without the aid of another controversial decision when they take on Livingston in the CIS Insurance Cup final tomorrow.
Williamson led Kilmarnock to Scottish Cup success in 1997, but their win over Falkirk in the final was tarnished by claims that the Bairns wrongfully had a goal disallowed for offside which could have changed the outcome of the game. The Hibs manager remains adamant the assistant referee made the correct decision and that Kilmarnock were rightful winners of the cup - but he hopes tomorrow's match at Hampden Park passes without similar incident.
He said: "I just hope there isn't someone blamed for a defeat, a goalkeeper dropping the ball, a defender scoring an own-goal or a match official making the wrong decision.
"I hope there is no one to point the finger at, but if the game goes against us the finger will be pointed heavily at me and if we win it will be pointed at Davie [Hay].
"You do get the tinted glasses on and see it from your perspective if your team has had a goal chalked off - you tend to think 'if we'd got the goal it would have been different'. But I've watched it a few times and the linesman was spot-on and shouldn't have any fears about that. Hopefully the officials get it right on Sunday as well."
Hibs booked their place in the final against all odds after disposing of Celtic and Rangers, but Williamson said being only 90 minutes away from winning silverware does have its negative points.
"I try to stop the players getting too carried away just now so we'll keep it low key as much as possible," he said. "Once we qualified for the cup final I felt it had been a distraction. It's a welcome distraction but it has affected our league form and we haven't played as well as we could have done."
Hibs fans have bought 37,000 tickets for tomorrow's game, while Livingston have sold only 8,000. Williamson is aware most of the crowd at Hampden don't follow his team every week - but he is hopeful a decent display will encourage them to visit Easter Road more often.
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