Paul Hanlon picked up the 'Young player of the Round' trophy for his efforts in helping Hibernian defeat Brechin City in the last round of the Co-operative Insurance Cup, the left-back having scored a stunning goal that evening. But Hanlon will be happy enough just to have a quiet and effective part in the game against St Johnstone this evening - provided Hibernian progress into the quarter finals of the tournament.

The fate of the draw threw these sides together again just days after they had to meet on league business, Hibernian winning the first round perhaps a bit less comfortably than the 3-0 score suggested - but Hanlon is under no illusions about the difficulty he and his team-mates face this evening, and having played alongside many of the current St Johnstone side he perhaps knows a bit more than most. It was to St Johnstone that Paul went in search of first-team football last season when he could not claim a place in the Hibernian side, a brief stay in Perth enough to spur on his desire to reclaim a place at Easter Road.

The Scotland Under-21 international is not fooled either by the win on Saturday being in some way a sign of success for Hibernian this evening: "This will be a completely different game - cup ties always are. We can go into the game with some confidence having won on Saturday of course but St Johnstone showed in that game how good a side they are, they dominated the opening 15 minutes of that game and will be looking to do the same tonight - but will obviously be hoping to score this time. But this is a big game, it's a cup tie and we are at home with the support behind us so we need to use that advantage and work hard to progress.

"It was only two years ago that we won this competition and the memory of that is still fresh in the minds, we would certainly like to have more of that, it's was disappointing to go out early last season so tonight we have a chance to make amends for that and set ourselves up for another run at the trophy." Paul has started the season very well indeed, convincing John Hughes early in the summer that he had the qualities to hold down the left-back slot: "I'm just grateful to the manager for giving me the chance this season, it has meant a great deal to me to be part of this side, but I know I have to repay that faith and do as well as I possibly can. I certainly know that there is a lot of competition for places in the squad and that certainly keeps you on your toes because you know that no player is guaranteed a place in this team, you have to play well to keep your place."

It is very much a new team and new approach for Hibernian this season, a point often made by John Hughes is that it will take time to gel and there would be setbacks along the way. The first of those came against Hamilton Accies: "After our loss at Hamilton the manager made it quite clear that it was down to us to pick it up again, he told us that it was just not acceptable and we had to make it right. Luckily enough we managed to do that on Saturday through working hard as a team and we got the goals we needed to get the points. But the gaffer has made it clear he expects that from us every week and to be fair the players expect that every week as well, we were disappointed when our standard dropped."

Hibernian v St Johnstone kicks off at Easter Road this evening at 7.45pm - prices for this game are just £15.00 for adults and £10.00 for concessions. Cash gates will be in operation for this game; season ticket holders who purchased the cup top-up option for 2009/10 are asked to use voucher 2 from their booklet.