Lawrence Shankland has revealed that watching Hearts lift the Scottish Cup as a boy in 2006 has him dreaming of taking a step closer to emulating Rudi Skacel and co.
The skipper was a youth player at Tynecastle 18-years ago and was at the national stadium to watch a Craig Gordon-inspired Jambos side defeat Gretna to win the Scottish Cup.
Now preparing to lead the Jam Tarts out at Hampden on Sunday to face Rangers for a place in the final, he’s hoping the backing of more than 19,000 Hearts fans can spur the boys in maroon on to success and keep the dream alive.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Lawrence said: “The 2006 Scottish Cup Final, I was at because I was at Hearts as a kid. So I was actually at that game.
“It was great and good to see teams outwith the Old Firm winning cups. It was quite unusual at times and Hearts are a big club, wanting to win trophies. Fingers crossed we can be the next ones.
“I’d expect a good atmosphere. It’s a wee bit different from the last semi-final. It’ll be cut through the middle when last time it was mostly Rangers (fans) quite dominant in the stadium. That’ll be a different outlook coming out the tunnel so hopefully that can cheer the boys on a bit.
“It’s the look of it when you’re going out the tunnel. You see the support when you go out there and (last time) it was large on the right-hand side but it will be a bit different this time with it being split down the middle. Hopefully the boys can take a wee bit from that.
“You’re allowed to dream when you’re at this stage, semi-finals, and you’re one step away from the final, it’s obviously something you’re looking at. But you kind of need to concentrate on the task at hand first. If we can get by that then I’ll continue to dream.”
Lawrence’s press conference is available to watch in full on Hearts TV.
