Zander Clark in bullish Celtic battle cry after Hearts offered 'real test' ahead of Scottish Cup showdown

Zander Clark reckons Hearts proved at Parkhead they have the chops to send Celtic spinning out of the Scottish Cup.

The Jambos pushed the Hoops all the way in Wednesday night’s cinch Premiership clash before Ange Postecoglou’s men eventually bagged the points with a late third goal. Clark reckons a repeat could send Hearts to Hampden and he said: “The performance for 75 to 80 minutes was top level. I’m obviously disappointed to come away with nothing from the game for what we put in.

“That’s frustrating but there are plenty of positives we can take from that performance heading into Saturday. We have got to take confidence from the performance we put on at Parkhead. I don’t think there will be many teams that go there and play at that level against Celtic. We have to take the positives from it and while the end result is disappointing it’s a quick turnaround before we go again.

“We need to focus on what we did well in the game and how we defended for long spells of the game and take that into Saturday now. Some of the passages of play we had, coming from the back and getting at them, were top level.

“So we take the positives from how we played, how we defended for long spells of the game and use it to be confident. We’ve gone and given them a real test already, so at home on Saturday with the crowd right behind us it’s a chance to go and have a real go.”

Clark insisted Robbie Neilson ’s side will show no fear and he’s hoping a bouncing Tynecastle can help roar the Jambos to a famous win over the Premiership leaders. He said: “It’s a massive stadium at Parkhead but at Tynecastle the crowd are right on top of you. It will be packed to the rafters I would imagine, so there will be a great atmosphere.

“It’s up to us