Airdrie dumping St Johnstone was NOT a cup shock and we can go all the way, says Callum Fordyce as side set sights on Hearts

Callum Fordyce insists Airdrie’s Scottish Cup scalp of St Johnstone was NOT a shock.

And the player-assistant boss believes they are now capable of doing the same to fellow Premiership side Hearts in the last 16, as the Diamonds dare to dream of going all the way to Hampden in May.

Airdrie stunned the Saints on Saturday with a 1-0 win at New Broomfield that sent the two-time winners crashing out at the first hurdle and Fordyce reckons they need only look at Inverness' run to last season's final for inspiration to do the same.

Nikolay Todorov’s second-half strike was the difference as he netted for the fourth game in a row, but the win was no more than the Diamonds deserved for a dominant display against Craig Levein’s men.

Fordyce says it wasn’t a surprise to him and shows the promotion-chasing Championship cracks are more than capable of competing with top-flight sides.

A last-16 tie at home to Hearts on the weekend of February 10 now awaits and after sinking Saints, Fordyce said: “It is a great result. We had real belief going into the game that we could do that, with our home record and the way we go about our business.

“Is it an upset? Not in our eyes. And that is no disrespect to St Johnstone.

“We believe we are a really good side, but it will go down as an upset because they are in a higher league than us.

“We think we are more than capable of going toe-to-toe with some of the Premiership sides and that shows.

“I think over the 90 minutes we were the better side by a country mile.

“It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that they really started to threaten our goal, but it was just long-range efforts that you are expecting Josh Rae to save.

“If you are limiting a Premiership team to 30-yard shots then you are doing