Andrew McKinlay confirms Hearts cash donation to Hamilton by way of apology for pyro pitch damage

Hearts have made a donation to Hamilton’s youth academy to apologise for pyro pitch damage caused by fans.

The Jambos booked their spot in the quarter-final of the Scottish Cup with a 2-0 win in Lanarkshire last Friday night. Robbie Neilson's team were backed by a bumper travelling support of 3,327 - the biggest away attendance in New Douglas Park’s history. They were in fine voice as Stephen Humphrys and Cammy Devlin sent the capital club through to the last eight, where they will face Celtic at Tynecastle.

However, not all were on their best behaviour in Lanarkshire. Pyrotechnics were smuggled in and thrown on the pitch after Humprhys opened the scoring, causing damage to the artificial playing surface. Chief executive Andrew McKinlay confirmed that Hearts had donated £3,000 to Accies to say sorry, and reminded fans such behaviour was unacceptable, while praising the numbers fans have their side in this season.

He said: "With the news that, once again, demand to watch Heart of Midlothian is outstripping supply, I’d like to take a moment to say some words about our phenomenal fanbase.

"On Tuesday, our allocation of 2,200 for this Sunday’s cinch Premiership match at Motherwell sold out. Our hosts have opened up two more sections, so we can expect to see in excess of 3,000 Hearts fans at Fir Park.

"This is our second away match in a row and comes off the back of last week’s Scottish Cup win at Hamilton Academical. There were 3,727 Jambos in South Lanarkshire, which is the biggest ever away attendance recorded at Accies’ stadium.

"In Gorgie we have, to date, seen attendances totalling more than 315,000. It is not unreasonable to think that with the number of home games we have remaining, we could hit around the 450,000