Heart of Midlothian booked their spot in the semi-final of the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup this evening, defeating Dundee 3-1 at Tynecastle Park.
The Jambos won the quarter-final courtesy of two sensational strikes in both halves from Sander Kartum, before Simon Murray netted an own-goal, to tee up another Hampden trip.
A Joe Shaughnessy header had Dundee back on level terms shortly after the break, but the Jambos responded with two decisive goals in the second 45.
Neil Critchley made four changes to the side that lost the Edinburgh derby; Adam Forrester replaced Gerald Taylor, whilst Kenneth Vargas stepped in for James Wilson. In defence, Lewis Neilson replaced the injured Jamie McCart, with Sander Kartum starting ahead of Jorge Grant in midfield.
The Jambos started with intent, hitting Dundee on the counter from their own corner. Kartum played a cross-field ball to Vargas, with the Costa Rican cutting inside and going for goal, his attempt going just wide.
After a bit of huffing and puffing from both sides in the opening stanza, the opening goal arrived just before the half-hour mark for the men in maroon – and what a goal it was.
In a packed Dundee box, Lawrence Shankland eased the ball into the path of Kartum on the edge of the area. Taking just one delightful touch, the Norwegian arrowed a screamer into the top corner on his left foot: marking his maiden maroon goal in style.
Dundee chances were few and far between, with one lacklustre header from Simon Murray sailing over Craig Gordon’s crossbar following an inviting ball across goal from Ziyad Larkeche.
Hearts had the ball in the net again seven minutes later, with VAR ultimately deeming it offside. Interplay between Vargas and Shankland saw the latter loop a curling effort at goal, deflecting off a Dundee shirt in the process, before going in – with replays confirming Elton Kabangu was ahead of play in the build-up.
Olu Adewumi had a big chance right before the end of the half, threaded through on goal before seeing his curling strike crack the crossbar.
HT: Heart of Midlothian 1-0 Dundee
Kartum almost scored an identical strike to his first at the Gorgie Road end as Hearts started the new half brightly.
Good running from James Penrice broke the Dundee line, with Elton Kabangu sliding a smart cut-back across goal for a waiting Kartum. Taking another gorgeous touch, his dipping strike narrowly went over the bar.
Against the run of play, Dundee secured an early equaliser. Larkeche did well to keep the ball alive on the left side, with his resulting ball across the face of goal gratefully received by Joe Shaugnessy – nodding a downwards header beyond Craig Gordon.
It was the spark Dundee needed as they started to claw back possession. Finlay Robertson caused no shortage of issues down the left, twisting and turning before forcing a holding stop from Gordon with his low drive.
Lax play by Mo Sylla allowed Vargas to nip in ahead of him on the break, with the Dundee midfielder appearing to haul him down. Kabangu, who picked up from Vargas, saw his effort deflected wide.
From the resulting corner, the Jambos went again, with Simon Murray forced to head the ball off the line to maintain parity.
It became end-to-end stuff, a proper cup tie, but Hearts got their noses back in front after 63 minutes with a little help from Dundee.
Blair Spittal presided over the free kick on the right side. His drive into the box was accidentally headed backwards into the Dundee net by Simon Murray past a helpless Trevor Carson.
The Jambos were back in the ascendancy, and the third goal arrived not long after.
Shankland threaded the ball across to Sander Kartum. Showing wonderful skill to skin his marker, he drove into the box and hit a low drive with the outside of his foot that steered into the bottom right corner.
The chances kept tumbling from the Gorgie sky, with Elton Kabangu seeing a snapshot at goal palmed away by Carson, after a poor clearance from Shaughnessy left the ball gift-wrapped for him.
Into the final ten, and Hearts kept at it. Kabangu and Calem Nieuwenhof combined on the right as the Aussie tested Carson with a low stab at goal - with the Dundee stopper holding on.
Alan Forrest was next to try his luck, cutting inside off the right before blasting a vicious strike across goal, with a timely headed interception from Shaughnessy denying the Jambos a deserved fourth.
A good night's work in Gorgie, with the Jambos learn their semi-final opponent following the conclusion of Monday's night's meeting of Livingston and St. Johnstone.
Hearts: Gordon, Baningime, Shankland, Steinwender, Spittal (Forrest 77'), Kabangu (Wilson 86'), Neilson, Kartum (Musa 86'), Penrice, Forrester, Vargas (Nieuwenhof 77')
Subs: Clark, Grant, Nieuwenhof, Forrest, Dhanda, Wilson, Musa, Taylor
Dundee: Carson, Astley, Shaugnessy, McGhee (Sylla 45’), Mulligan, Adewumi, Garza (Reilly 82'), Murray, Robertson, Larkeche (Tiffoney 74'), Donnelly
Subs: McCracken, Sharp, Ingram, Tiffoney, Samuels, Reilly, Lopez, Sylla
Attendance: 17,975
