Elliot has foot in door to Hampden roar

YOUNG Hearts striker Calum Elliott would have settled for the occasional place on the bench this season before a ball had been kicked - now he admits he'll be gutted if he doesn't have a Scottish Cup final to look forward to at the end of May.

The 18-year-old had made just four substitute appearances for the first team before the start of this campaign and as players like Edgaras Jankauskas, Michel Pospisil and Roman Bednar were added to the squad over the summer he had a sizeable task facing him if he was to feature.

However, it's one he has risen to and he's grabbed his chances way with both hands to establish himself as a key player as the Jambos push for Champions League football next term.

The teenager has been a regular starter since Graham Rix's arrival as head coach rewarding the boss's faith by scoring six goals in recent months.

As his confidence has risen, so too has the level of his ambition and, on the eve of the Jambos' Tennent's Scottish Cup quarter-final clash with Partick Thistle, he admitted today that he had allowed his mind to drift to a possible run out at Hampden in the final. "I think every team in the competition will feel that they have a chance of making it to the final and that includes us," he said.

"The Old Firm are always the favourites when they're in the competition but now that they aren't it's given all the teams a real belief that they can go all the way.

"At the start of the season I would have been happy with just getting a couple of games, even on the bench, so things have obviously gone a lot better than that for me.

"The under-21s call-up was a dream come true and I was really surprised but to get to a cup final with Hearts would top that and it has crossed my mind what it would be like.

"We have a good chance of getting to the final although it will take a lot of hard work to do it. We may never have a better chance and it would be disappointing if we don't make the most of it."

The rapid progress that Elliot has made this season will have startled many of the Tynecastle outfit's support with even the player admitting that he didn't do himself justice when he initially burst onto the scene.

But as the goals have started to go in it was clear a weight had been lifted off Elliot's shoulders and he revealed he is now brimming with confidence. "The first one, which was against Falkirk, was a long time coming and I'd been taking a wee bit of stick from the lads for not scoring so it was nice when it did finally go in," he conceded.

"Until then all the wee breaks had been going against me and after that I found things were going my way again and I was finding it easier to get on the end of chances.

"I think it's because I relaxed a lot more and when you do that you tend to do things instinctively rather than thinking about them too much.

"In front of goal things have been going really well recently and I'd like that to continue for as long as possible.

"Although I'm obviously competing with them for places the likes of big Edgar Jankauskas and Roman Bednar have really helped me.

"They are always there to talk things through and give you that wee bit of advice and I'd be stupid not to listen to them because they are both really good players.

"But it's not just the forwards that have helped as Andy Webster and Paul Hartley have also been really good and passed on wee hints and tips from time to time over the season."

Elliot will go in search of his seventh goal of the season at Tynecastle tomorrow when Second Division Partick Thistle travel to Gorgie.

The Capital club are overwhelming favourites to book their place in the draw for the last four of the tournament although that in itself can bring added pressure.

This year's competition has provided a host of shocks with Spartans progressing all the way to the fourth round, Clyde stunning Celtic by knocking them out at Broadwood and the Jambos' opponents this weekend eliminating Caley Thistle.

And Elliot, who scored in the 3-0 win over Aberdeen in the previous round, knows his side can't afford to just turn up and expect to win the match.

"They have nothing to lose and we have everything to lose so it's not the same as playing a team from your own division," he said.

"It doesn't matter who scores the goals or what the final score is in the match tomorrow it's just about getting through it and being in the hat for the next round.

"All the pressure is on us and we have to make sure that we deal with that because if we don't we could find ourselves in trouble.

"I think we drew with Partick at home in the cup last year and they've already shown that they can't be taken lightly because they've been up to Inverness and got a draw, which isn't easy, and then they beat them on penalties.

"They will have taken a lot of confidence from that win although if we approach the game professionally, and play the way we can do, we should go through.

"This competition means a lot to the supporters, you could see how much by the scenes the last time the club won it back in 1998.

"They have given us tremendous backing so far this season and it would be really good if we could repay them for some of that support by giving them a big game to look forward to at the end of the season."

Taken from the Scotsman