Tynecastle side is in the final eight.

Neil Critchley described how Hearts prepared for penalties following their 4-2 shootout win against St Mirren in the Scottish Cup. The Tynecastle head coach was relieved to see his team advance to the quarter-finals, where they will face Dundee, following a spirited victory in Paisley.

Mikael Mandron and Calem Nieuwenhof scored to level the game 1-1 after extra time, but Hearts won the shootout with conversions by James Wilson, Kenneth Vargas, Jorge Grant, and James Penrice. Gerald Taylor’s shot was saved by St Mirren goalkeeper Zach Hemming, but Craig Gordon’s outstanding goalkeeping stopped Oisin Smyth and James Scott from the spot.

Nieuwenhof returned as a replacement after 11 months out injured and made an immediate impression. He and others performed heroics to help Hearts advance, prompting Critchley to clarify that penalty kicks had always been part of his team’s pre-match strategy. “I did not think we had a wonderful first half. I didn’t realize we were at the races, so to speak. “It’s unlike us,” the Englishman said. “I did not believe we were competitive enough with or without the ball. I believed we improved during the game. I believed the modifications made a difference, and I’m happy for Calem to get the equalizer. Obviously, when it comes to penalties, it’s like a lottery, but there was also a lot of talent involved.

“We practiced penalties yesterday. I’m overjoyed for those who stood up and scored, and Craig made some incredible saves. Sometimes it’s just about getting through and onto the next round, which we luckily did. We’re not used to that. We haven’t played at home in a long time, so it feels good to be back. But we have a crucial game on Sunday, and there are a few league games left before we can focus on the quarter-finals again.”

When asked if he trusted Gordon to deliver under the shootout strain, Critchley responded: “Yeah, I did, because I saw him save a number of our players’ penalties yesterday. He reads where the take will go, is very savvy in anticipating where the penalty will go, and is really swift over his line. He has outstanding responses and reflexes, so I’m not surprised he rescued several, which is a great complement to him. And credit to the guys who stood up and took the penalties; I felt they were really confident.”

Cammy Devlin of Hearts was substituted during regular time due to a head injury, as was defender Lewis Neilson. “Yeah, Lewis was a dead leg, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is,” Critchley said. “And then Cammy simply didn’t seem right. He claimed he was alright, but I kept asking, and he was putting his thumb up, so we just pulled him off as a precaution.”

Musa Drammeh, a Spanish attacker, was left out of the Hearts team, as did midfielder Yan Dhanda. “It was just a squad one [with Drammeh], that was it,” Critchley explained. “Yan [Dhanda] just had a little issue with his hip flexor yesterday in training, so that was more of a precaution.”

Critchley switched Hearts’ shape to a 4-4-2 diamond early in the second half, allowing them to gather greater momentum on an uneven pitch. “We just thought it was impossible to play on the surface tonight. It wasn’t simple, and we know that when you play with backward momentum, St Mirren are extremely strong at rushing forward and being athletic at the top end of the pitch,” stated the manager.

“It’s difficult to play passes into midfield because the surface is so active. So we decided that if we’re going to move ahead, we’d rather have two runners on the last line than one, so we placed two up there. I believe that helped us gain momentum, and we also became very dangerous on the break and throughout transitions. So I thought it was helpful, though I still wish we had used the ball more effectively. I believe you can tell that we are a team that is still in transition, learning, and figuring out what we are attempting to do and how we want to be as a team. And that only takes time.”

Sander Kartum, a Norwegian midfielder, made his debut for Hearts as a replacement during the changes. Neilson was replaced by another new recruit, Michael Steinwender. “It’s not easy for Michael to come into a game like that,” Critchley said. “He’s probably never played in that sort of game, but I felt he had a very dominating presence, confidence on the ball, was defensively solid, and made excellent decisions.

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