Hibernian v Celtic: Former skipper Rob Jones recalls Hibs' previous League Cup triumph

Hibernian hero Rob Jones gritted his teeth and led the way with a tremendous display of stamina, guts, unwavering commitment. And that was just the post-match party.

Having played a starring role in the club's first trophy success in 16 years, opening the scoring as Kilmarnock were thrashed 5-1 in the 2007 League Cup final, the captain lapped up the celebrations that lasted long into the night.

He finally stumbled away as dawn broke and headed to hospital for a pre-planned toe operation.

"I got home at half six in the morning," Jones recalls. "I left at half eight with the toe specialist. I can't remember a lot about the operation…"

His memories of the game itself are far sharper - his two sons have repeatedly made sure of that.

Jones left Hibs in 2009, two years after that Hampden win, but Hibs have never left him. That affectation has clearly been passed down to his boys, now aged 15 and 13.

"They watch that final all the time," Jones tells BBC Scotland from his home in England's north east. "They still talk about it. So it's a big part of our life, big part of our family and a special memory we all have.

"They've both gone to school in their Hibs top today. It's Christmas jumper day, but they've got a Hibs top on.

"It's a club very close to my heart, very close to us as a family. The youngest one was born in Scotland. I still call Hibs home, it will forever be special to me."

'We didn't feel pressure, just excitement'

While Hibs go into this weekend's League Cup final against Celtic as underdogs, 14 years ago they were the team bearing the burden of expectation and pressure.

Yet, Jones looked around the dressing room and felt no nerves, just a firm belief in his team-mates, who included stellar talents such as Scott Brown, Steven Whittaker, Guillaume Beuzelin and Steven Fletcher.

"There was a lot of expectation from the outside, but thankfully we had a mix of youth and experience, a bit of knowledge and know-how, and we bounced off each other really well," he says.

"We knew we were favourites but that never entered our conversations or minds. It was an extremely well focused week, our routine didn't change at all and everything was kept so low-key it was subdued.

"We had a lot of young players and they probably didn't know what pressure was. There was more excitement than anything else.

"When you walk down the tunnel as captain, in my first season at the club, there must have been at least 40,000 Hibs fans in the stadium at that point, it's just surreal. It couldn't have gone any better...."

Rob Jones' header gave Hibs the lead as they overwhelmed Kilmarnock at Hampden in the 2007 League Cup final

After a sluggish start as sleet and snow pelted Hampden, Hibs caught fire and Jones' header was followed by second-half strikes by Abdessalam Benjelloun and Fletcher, who each completed doubles after Gordon Greer's consolation for Kilmarnock.

With the comfort of a healthy lead, centre-back Jones - who had dispatched Hearts with the only goal of the quarter-final - was able to savour the occasion and scenes that followed.

Hibs were whizzed back from Hampden to Edinburgh with a police escort and soon greeted by tens of thousands of fans as their open-top bus snaked through the streets of Leith.

"You can never took your foot off the gas, especially a cup final, but when it went, one, two, 3-0, it felt like we were in complete control and we knew we were never going to lose," he adds.

"The open-top bus journey was incredible. I think every player was overawed by the amount of people who came out to celebrate. It's at that point you realise how many people you affect - whether positive or negative - in one football match.

"It was a humbling experience - and an entertaining night."

'A special group and memorable moment'

That success in March 2007 marked the zenith for a hugely talented squad nearing the end of an era.

Tony Mowbray, the manager who signed Jones from Grimsby Town in summer 2006, had departed for West Bromwich Albion and his successor John Collins' tumultuous reign went from League Cup glory to dressing-room revolt.

Within weeks of lifting the trophy, fissures appeared. Jones was among 19 players who took concerns over Collins' training methods and team selection to chairman Rod Petrie.

Jones is reticent about discussing the unrest, which was settled with the players making a public apology, but is lavish in his praise of the squad who ended the club's long silverware drought.

Midfielder Kevin Thomson had been sold to Rangers in the January prior to the final, and the summer saw an exodus of key players including Brown, Whittaker, Ivan Sproule, Chris Killen and David Murphy.

"I didn't really envisage how good the squad was when I first arrived," says Jones, who now has a coaching role in Middlesbrough's academy and meets Blackburn boss Mowbray every week for coffee.

"I was an unknown from League 2, I didn't know any of the boys. I remember coming home from the first sessions and thinking, 'Wow, this is some group, with some amazing talents'.

"It was a tight-knit squad, we had all the ingredients. The final was the last momentous time that group of players were together.

"It was a special group and we created a memorable moment for ourselves and the Hibs fans."

Hibs' League Cup winning squad was soon broken up as key players were sold