One man St Mirren fear more than Messi

THERE are some St Mirren supporters who would be more relieved to hear Lionel Messi was in the Hearts starting line-up than Rudi Skacel.

Some players seem to perform better against certain teams and the Czech has undoubtedly got the Indian sign over the Paisley club.

There was an inevitability that Skacel would score in Wednesday night's William Hill Scottish Cup quarter-final replay at St Mirren Park, his goal ensuring Hearts' safe passage through to the last four. It was his 10th goal in six matches against Danny Lennon's side – a haul that includes two hat tricks, and a double. With both teams destined to finish the season in opposite halves of the table once the league splits, it may be of some relief to St Mirren that they won't need to face Skacel again this year.

"I have been a little bit lucky in the last two seasons against them but there are some teams who you always seem to score against," said Skacel. "But I said to Danny Lennon that was the last time we'll play each other this season so he's safe now."

Hearts' reward for beating St Mirren is a semi-final against Celtic next month. They will be underdogs on the day but Skacel is not without hope. "It's a semi-final, it's 50/50, it doesn't matter who your opponent is. There is a big motivation. Hearts will have half the stadium behind us and we believe we can do it. It's only 90 minutes."

Skacel is the sole surviving member of the Hearts team that won the Scottish Cup in 2006 – albeit he left the club for a spell and then returned – and hopes a repeat could be on the cards. "It's an amazing memory and there is a huge motivation for me to take the lads to Hampden [for the semi-final], do our job there and make it through to the final. What happened after the game in 2006 was amazing, and what our supporters did for us at that time was incredible. It was like we had won the World Cup. So I have nice memories of that and a big motivation to get there. But this is a different time and a different team and we have to try and play well enough to get there."

Jamie MacDonald, who saved Graham Carey's first-half penalty on Wednesday, says Hearts will take inspiration from Kilmarnock in next month's semi-final against Celtic. Neil Lennon's side go into the tie as favourites but the Hearts goalkeeper watched Kenny Shiels and Kilmarnock defy the odds last week and believes another upset is not beyong the realms of possibility.

"With the semi-final, you look at the game at the weekend and you never know," said MacDonald. "Celtic have already been beaten in one cup final so why can't we go to Hampden and do the same? "We've beaten them already this season."

Taken from the Herald