How Hearts clinched Scottish Cup semi-final berth against St Mirren in thrilling cup tie - impervious Craig Halkett, intelligent attackers

Cooking up a tasty cup tie, this Scottish Cup quarter-final between Hearts and St Mirren at Tynecastle boiled and bubbled as both attacks threw everything into the mix.

Rarely calming down to a simmer, St Mirren battled back from a 2-0 deficit to level the scoreline before Hearts turned up the heat even further and grabbed two further goals to prevail 4-2 and book another trip to Hampden for the semi-finals of this year’s Scottish Cup.

It was a well-fought contest and one that the home side had gone into as favourites based on their loftier position in the cinch Premiership and the fact that they had triumphed in each of the three league meetings this term.

But if they needed a reminder that they were not at full strength, it came in the opening minutes when Craig Halkett went down with a head knock.

Playing out the rest of the game with a head bandage, he was the on-field embodiment of the lengthy injury list that had forced a shake-up of personnel and formations.

Without John Souttar, they moved to a back four, and on a night where both attacks seemed to be sponsored by Duracell, the Hearts backline, like their St Mirren counterparts, had a busy time trying to repel the hungry strikers.

In the end the home ranks proved more intransigent at the back and more clinical up front.

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Played at a high tempo, Hearts set out their stall early on, but Eamonn Brophy’s effort in the seventh minute let them know that they wouldn’t have it all their own way.

In their recent league meeting, Robbie Neilson’s men had enjoyed the greater dominance and although another of the key contributors that day, Cammy Devlin, was another absentee, they asserted themselves once again