Wee Lewis said to me 'this is my last season'..that was about 15 years ago!

Del recalls sliding doors moment for Hibees hero

- FRASER WILSON

DEREK RIORDAN vividly remembers the night a fresh-faced Lewis Stevenson made his Hibs debut 19 years ago - because typically he scored both goals in a 2-1 cup win at Ayr.

The Hibees hero also recalls his fellow Leith legend confiding in him that he feared his Easter Road days were numbered just a few years later.

But after hundreds of games and two cup winners' medals, Riordan says nobody can ever argue the fans' favourite hasn't stood the test of time.

Riordan was sad to hear his former team-mates Stevenson and Paul Hanlon are to end their Hibs careers this month after an astonishing combined tally of almost 1200 games.

The duo will run out for the final time at the ground that has been home for two decades against Motherwell next Wednesday and Riordan hopes the punters turn out in numbers to give them a fitting reception.

He was just a 22-year-old fledgling himself when Stevenson made his debut in a League Cup tie down at Somerset in September 2005.