Hearts Sneak Through To Set Up Rangers Semi-Final
Heart of Midlothian will head for Hampden Park next month in the semi-final of the Scottish Cup after seeing off the stubborn challenge of Greenock Morton in the quarter-finals.
The Macklin Motors-backed side travelled to Cappielow Park as overwhelming favourites against a Championship side that had won only once since shocking Premiership outfit Motherwell in the fifth round.
Putting their recent poor league form – which included back-to-back home defeats – to one side, Morton created chances in the first half but were unable to find a way past veteran ‘keeper Craig Gordon, who was called into the line-up in place of Zander Clark.
Alan Power tested the 41-year-old early on before Hearts had the chance to test Ryan Mullen for the first time, with Lawrence Shankland twice going close to opening the scoring before the break and Alan Forrest also spurning a chance.
Both sides continued to create chances after the break, with Beni Baningime failing to get a header on target for Hearts when well placed, and Cammy Devlin then forcing Mullen into making a smart save.
Kenneth Vargas then missed a great chance to break the deadlock ten minutes from the end when he was played in by Shankland but could only clip the bar as he tried to lift the ball over Mullen.
However, five minutes later the pair combined for the winner as Shankland picked up the ball from a charging Baningime before laying it off for his strike partner to fire a shot across Mullen and into the far corner.
The game with Rangers in the next round will take place on the weekend of 20 April.
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