Captain Marius Zaliukas set his sights on St. Mirren after his stunning late winner saw Hearts progress to a quarter-final showdown with The Buddies as the Jambos knocked out St Johnstone at the second attempt.

The visitors looked dead and buried as Murray Davidson's 84th minute goal looked to have knocked them out of this year's tournament but the Jam Tarts were not to be denied as Suso Santana was fouled in injury time and Jamie Hamill sent the game into extra time from the spot.

With penalties looming large a late surge of pressure from the Maroons saw a corner forced and after the ball rebounded off the bar, the Lithuanian stopper - who boss Paulo Sergio had deployed as an auxiliary striker in an attempt to win the game - was first to react as he smashed the ball past Alan Mannus and sent his team through.

Speaking after the match, the captain - who played through extra time with a painful knock and struggled to even reach the press room, running on adrenaline - insisted he was fine and just happy to have helped the team.

Marius said: "I'm alright. I'll be fine I'm just tired! I don't think I'll be playing as a centre forward regularly. I won a couple of lucky headers. It was a brilliant feeling to win the game. The last few years we've struggled in the cup so this feels a wee bit special.

"We know who our next opponents are, that was good motivation. To have a home game is a good draw. We're looking forward to hopefully getting to Hampden."

For some fans it may have been that familiar "not again" feeling when St Johnstone scored so late on in the game, a feeling that Marius shared: "It was a really bad feeling when they scored. It felt awful. But thankfully we got the win and we got a bit lucky. The victory will be good for the whole club. We want to go to Hampden and this takes us a step closer."

With champions Rangers knocked out of the cup now, the draw has certainly opened up for Hearts but Zal is refusing to get carried away, with a number of SPL teams left in the hat: "It doesn't matter who's left in the cup, every game will be hard. This was our hardest game of the season. We are going to fight for every point and every victory and we want to do our best."

A player who has exploded back onto the scene recently is Suso Santana. The Spanish pocket rocket has played a massive role in the past two matches, netting an injury time equaliser to earn Hearts a draw at Kilmarnock and winning the penalty at St Johnstone. The Spaniard's return has been welcomed greatly by the skipper.

He added: "The last two games, Suso has made a big impact for us. Two games in a row in the last minute he's made good decisions and he's helped. Everyone is lifted now. I thought the penalty was fifty-fifty but the decision is made and you can't change that. This will probably give us a lot of confidence because it shows we can fight to the last minute."

Finally, in the middle of the post-match celebrations, the triumphant Hearts squad threw their shirts into the 1400-strong away support who had travelled from Edinburgh to witness the fantastic result, and if the players come to regret that in the morning the skipper has volunteer to take the hit: "I don't care if we have to pay for the jerseys we threw to the fans. If we do, I'll pay for them, it's worth it!"

 Today on HeartsTV - post-match reaction from Paulo Sergio and Marius Zaliukas.