DAVID VAN ZANTEN has heard all about the atmosphere of an Edinburgh derby – and the Irishman admits he's already counting down the days until he can experience it for himself.
The Hibs defender revealed that he and his St Mirren team-mates used to rank visits to the Capital on the same level as a trip to either Ibrox or Parkhead because of the close proximity of the supporters to the pitch and the atmosphere they could gen
erate.
But he knows that, no matter how noisy he found games against Hibs and Hearts when he was on the opposing side, the decibels will be raised to an altogether different level when the two sides clash for the first time this season next weekend.
Van Zanten and company are not in action this week because of the international matches, but resume their domestic campaign in the best way possible in ten days' time when they welcome Csaba Laszlo's side to Easter Road.
And the 27-year-old from Dublin, whose only other derby involvement was in games between St Mirren and local rivals Morton, admitted that he is desperate to find out exactly what the Edinburgh version is like.
Van Zanten, who joined Hibs in the summer, said: "The last few months have been good for me, this is still a fairly new club for me and there is a completely differently mentality here and I am loving every minute of it.
"When you are at a club the size of Hibs there is always going to be that level of pressure or expectation, especially from the supporters because they want to go and see their team win things and the players are no different.
"That's a great thing to have and hopefully we can go out and achieve what they want this season.
"The Hearts game can't come quick enough for me to be honest, I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a massive game for both teams, because we're both going all out for that UEFA Cup place so it's important that we get the right result.
"I have played in a few big grounds, but I don't think that I will really have played in a bigger game. I've played in a derby before – between St Mirren and Morton – but this will be something else.
"People have told me about the atmosphere but I'm really looking forward to playing in it and I don't think that there's many games out there that will compare to an Edinburgh derby.
"Both stadiums are great arenas to play in. When I was with St Mirren, going to Easter Road or Tynecastle was on a par really with going to Parkhead or Ibrox.
"I know that it will be even more special next weekend and I can't wait to experience it for myself."
The right-back has been playing his football in the country for the last decade, with Celtic, St Mirren and now Hibs and conceded that the country has become something of a home from home.
He's hoping, though, that a successful campaign with the Easter Road side and qualification for the UEFA Cup will see him leave the these shores on at least a few occasions.
"This is my tenth season in Scotland, I've been living here since I was 17 and I suppose that I consider this to be a second home for me. I'm settled here, I married a Scottish girl and have got a couple of daughters as well. I'm really enjoying my football as well so let's hope that it stays that way.
"If we can just keep playing the way that we have and maintaining the kind of results that we have then we will be right up there with a chance. We know that it will be difficult because there are a lot of teams who have the same ambition and will be fighting us all the way for the UEFA Cup spot. It's a tight league but I think that we are more than capable of doing it."
After a tough start to the season when the Easter Road side found themselves under fire for their results in pre-season friendlies, Van Zanten admits that it is nice to have turned things around.
Mixu Paatelainen's men now find themselves joint third in the SPL table with Kilmarnock, having picked up 13 points from their opening eight games of the new season.
They picked up three of those in the weekend's 2-1 win over Aberdeen at Pittodrie and Van Zanten is keen to keep the momentum going: "Pittodrie is a very difficult place to go to, despite their league position right now, so to go there and get all three points was a great result.
"Once you get a couple of results together then things start to happen for you, you start playing better and your confidence levels start to go up again. There's no doubt that we took a lot of criticism at the start of the season because we had a few results in pre-season that maybe didn't go our way but we seem to have come through that now.
"We are sitting in a decent position in the table now and it is important that we keep that going."
Derek Riordan netted his second and third goals since returning to Easter Road from Celtic in the last transfer window and Van Zanten admitted that he has been highly impressed by the new addition to the side.
"He has been great, you can see in training that he has got something about him. There's no doubt that he is a top-quality player, we are just lucky to have him. He is always capable of pulling off something different and it's great to have him in the side. The quality of the squad is very high and there are a lot of options now, that's a great thing for the manager."
The Hibs players not on international duty will enjoy a few days' off this weekend and Van Zanten believes that the break will do them good.
He said: "We are off Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I think that it will be good for the boys both mentally and physically.
"It comes at a nice time for us because we have worked really hard recently and managed to get some decent results as well and hopefully we will be able to recharge our batteries over the next few days and come back fresh."
The full article contains 1096 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
