Heart of Midlothian 3-3 Queen of the South AET, 4-2 pens

(McHattie 13', Hamill 51', Wilson 92' - McGuffie 18', Paton 61', Higgins 116')
From Hearts Media at Tynecastle.

Hearts beat Queen of the South in a dramatic night of football at Tynecastle on Wednesday night to advance through to the quarter finals of the League Cup.

Three times the Jambos took the lead but the Championship side would not give up as they equalised at each time of asking, which meant the match was decided on penalties. Gary Locke's boys clinched victory thanks to Dale Carrick's winning penalty.

Hearts made only one change from the side that faced Ross County last Saturday, the injured David Smith making way for Gary Oliver who made his first professional start for the club.

Despite dominating possession in the early stages it took the Jambos ten minutes to register a shot on goal. A long Danny Wilson free-kick saw Jamie Hamill nod the ball into the box where it was met by Callum Paterson, whose low shot bulleted past a clutch of blue shirts but was saved by the diving Calum Antell.

The breakthrough came only three minutes later courtesy of some excellent running by Oliver who weaved his way through the QoS defence and found Kevin McHattie on the edge of the box, via Jamie Walker. The left back thundered a low diagonal shot across the face of goal, beyond Antell and into the back of the net.

Queen of the South responded with an equaliser on 18 minutes. A corner from the left saw Ryan McGuffie rise unchallenged and head towards goal and although Jamie MacDonald pulled off a sublime one handed save, the rebound fell back to McGuffie who made no mistake from six yards.

Midfield play dominated for much of the first half as both teams made advances forward but were unable to penetrate the final third. Oliver looked especially dangerous for Hearts, proving to be a thorn in the side of QoS when he had the ball at his feet.

The visitors should have taken the lead after half an hour when a fortuitous bounce off of Hamill at the edge of the box meant an unmarked Derek Lyle had the ball at his feet only six yards out, but he ballooned his shot over MacDonald and the crossbar.

Queen of the South again found themselves in a goalscoring position when Hamill was dispossessed in the middle of the park by McShane, who slid the ball through to Iain Russell but he dragged his shot horribly wide from ten yards.

With a minute to go until half time QoS almost found themselves going into the break leading. A Russell ball from the left was rattled first time by Michael Paton at the edge of the box but his shot curled around the post and wide.

Only five minutes after the restart Hearts were awarded a penalty when Walker was sandwiched between two Queen of the South defenders as he ran through on goal. Hamill stepped up and placed the ball high and beyond the QoS 'keeper to give the Jambos the lead.

Not to be outdone, the visitors got back on level terms just after the hour mark. A breakaway down the left proved decisive as Lyle middled for Paton and the QoS no. 10 slammed the ball home from the edge of the six yard box.

Gary Locke made a double switch on 66 minutes when he replaced Oliver and Brad McKay with Billy King and Jordan McGhee, as the Jambos once again tried to gain the upper hand in the match.

Jamie Walker came close to putting Hearts back in front after 77 minutes. He received the ball 20 yards out from goal, made a gap for himself and then fired a shot inches wide of Antell's left hand post.

No breakthrough could be made in normal time so extra time was required for the second consecutive match in this competition, with Dale Carrick replacing Scott Robinson at the beginning of the first period.

It took only two minutes for Hearts to get in front for the third time in the match. A well worked Walker free-kick saw the ball laid off to Hamill and his knock into the box was stabbed into the net by Danny Wilson from eight yards.

From thereon in shots at goal were scare, though QoS' McShane fired over the bar from edge of the box with 110 minutes on the clock.

Four minutes later the visitors grabbed another equaliser. A free-kick into the box found Queens' captain Chris Higgins and he shot high and beyond MacDonald into the net.

A penalty shootout decided the outcome of this match, exactly as it had the round previous at Stark's Park. McGhee was first up and rifled home, though Lyle matched his precision with QoS' first penalty. Hamill then agonisingly knocked his penalty over the bar before Mitchell rattled his effort off the bar.

Dylan McGowan slotted his penalty home and then MacDonald saved from Carmichael to give Hearts the lead. Billy King stepped up and scored as did Kevin Dzierzawski.

All pressure was on Dale Carrick and he calmly placed his penalty high into the top corner to give Hearts the win and send the Gorgie boys through the to quarter finals of the Scottish League Cup.

Hearts: MacDonald; McGowan, McKay (McGhee, 66'), Wilson, McHattie; Holt, Robinson (Carrick, 91'), Hamill; Paterson, Oliver (B. King, 66'), Walker. Subs not used: Ridgers, Tapping.

QoS: Antell, McGuffie (Mitchell, 86'), Holt, Dzierzawski, Dowie, Higgins, McShane, Young (Reilly, 96'), Lyle, Paton, Russell (Carmichael, 78'). Subs not used: Atkinson, Durnan.

Referee: John McKendrick

Top man: Jamie Hamill

Hearts World