Can Hearts Upset ‘Well In The Cup?

Hearts travel to Fir Park tonight on Scottish Cup duty for arguably their most important match of the season so far.

Realistically you would have to think that the Scottish Cup represents Hearts’ last chance of qualifying for Europe next season, and that means having to go through there tonight and winning against a side who will be well (poor pun!) up for it.

It’s a difficult ask for Hearts, who are still struggling for form despite the managerial situation appearing to have a bit more sense to it. In the first match at Tynecastle last week they probably should have had the tie dead and buried before Motherwell fought back, but missed chances with the score at 2-0 allowed the Steelmen their second bite at the cherry here, and in the end their excellent fightback did deserve the draw they achieved in the end.

Now with home advantage you would have have to make Motherwell favourites, especially if you consider the form book and take a quick glance at the SPL table. They have been the form team outwith the top two so far this season, and although they have obviously been hit hard by the tragic death of Phil O’Donnell, that didn’t appear to weaken them a great deal on the evidence of their second half display last week. If anything this incident could prove to be their biggest motivation, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they go quite far in this competition in O’Donnells honour should they knock Hearts out tonight.

However that said, Hearts are one of the few teams to have won at Fir Park this season and although they rode their luck that night and also had Larry Kingston in the side, there is nothing to say that they couldn’t achieve this again tonight. They certainly have the players to beat anyone in the league, but it’s always been other factors that have held them back so far this season. Perhaps Frail can finally get them to click and deliver a hugely welcome and morale-boosting victory…….I certainly hope so. Good luck, lads……….