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Former Republic of Ireland international full-back Alan Maybury has finally put pen to paper on a one year deal with Hibs.

The 34 year old has been training with the club throughout the pre-season and Pat Fenlon made no secret that he wanted to sign him, but financial obstacles prevented this until now.

Maybury explained: “They offered me the chance to come in and train, no promises or anything; we’ll just see how it goes. It’s taken a wee bit of time; I’ve been involved in all the games. They asked me to go on the pre-season tour with a view to getting this done but it’s taken a wee bit longer trying to juggle a few things.”

The experienced defender previously played for city rivals Hearts, but believes that this won’t affect his performance if selected in Sunday’s fixture, and hopes that the Hibs fans get behind him and the team.

He continued: “If you play well you’ll be all right, if you don’t you won’t. It’s a good game to be involved in. I know what the derby’s all about so it will be good.

“I did my time at Hearts; it’s a long time ago now. I’ve given my all for every club and I’ll never be a fan’s favourite, where I play position wise, but I think most fans will appreciate that I do give everything. I understand the rivalry but this is a great opportunity.

I’m sure some Hearts fans won’t be happy and some will, I hope remember that I gave my all for them, but I’ve moved on, I’m here now and I will give my all for this club.”

Hibs go into the game as underdogs, not having won a derby for three years, but Maybury insists that this statistic won’t affect the players and denied that revenge will be on their minds for the cup final defeat.

He said: “It’s a new era, the managers trying to start things afresh and this year there has been a big turnover in the summer.

“Pre-season’s been good. There’s a good bunch of boys all willing to do the work, trying to take on what the manager asks.

“I don’t think there is a revenge issue but there is a steely determination that this won’t happen again. I wasn’t connected with the club at the time but there is enough lads here who were and they are determined that this cannot happen again.”

The Dublin born star hopes that he has a better start to Sunday’s game than he experienced during his first taste of the Edinburgh derby when Ulises de la Cruz scored after twenty seconds in a game which the Easter Road side eventually won 2-1.

“I had no idea what to expect, and we went one nil down after twenty seconds. I was just blown away, just not grasping it. I knew a few of the Hibs boys, Grant Brebner and Nick Colgan and was chatting to them in the tunnel before then it was straight into the game thinking ‘What is this all about?’ I’d come from reserve team football down in England and there was a huge difference.”

The Hibs supporters remember that game well and are desperate to see a similar result to silence the large Hearts supports who have made it plain they intend to party inside Easter Road and remind everyone about the score the last time the teams met.

Manager Pat Fenlon expressed his delight at the signing. He said: “I’m delighted to get it done to be honest. Alan and Gary (Deegan) this week are good signings for us and I’m happy to bring a bit of experience as well and Alan brings a bit of versatility to the squad as well which we need.

It was important that we wanted him and he wanted to come so it was important that we got it right in the end so it’s a good week to do it I suppose.

I had an eye on getting him in last week but we just didn’t get there so it’s important that we got him in as quick as possible to strengthen the squad.

The game kicks off at 12.30pm on Sunday.