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We have reached the final part of our series of the five best Hearts players from each area of the pitch since 1970. We have so covered the goalkeepers, defenders and midfielders. Now it is the turn of the strikers:

John Robertson

“He was a magical finisher, left foot, right foot, head, stomach, back side. You name it.” Former Hearts starlet Kris O’Neil was left mesmerised by John Robertson, both as a fan then later as a team-mate. Give Robbo the ball and he would score. And he did, 310 times. There was little luck involved in getting the better of defenders and goalkeepers on 310 occasions. It was a combination of lethal shooting, intelligence and reading the flow of a game better than most.

Robertson was the player every Hearts fan in the 80s and 90s wanted to be. Many were him, whether it was in the back garden, on the playing field or in a game of fives when hopes of being discovered had long passed. He is one of those players that even if you didn’t see him play you can remember him vividly, the goals he scored, the magical moments he created. Either because a parent has not stopped enthusing about him or simply because his very essence seems to be etched into every supporter from birth. If any player deserved to lift the Scottish Cup in 1998 it was him. Reward for all those times he pulled Hearts out the mire.

Who put the ball in the Hibees net? Robbo did. 27 times.

Donald Ford

It is easier to understand Donald Ford goal-scoring prowess at Tynecastle when you consider who he watched as a Hearts fan growing up in the 50s and 60s. He said: “I was peeking over the wall to see the forward line of [Jim] Souness, [Alfie] Conn, Bauld, [Jimmy] Wardhaugh and [Johnny] Urquhart. The magnificence of Bauld at No 9, then the magnificence of Alex Young who succeeded him.”

John Colquhoun was a huge hit in two spells. Picture: SNS

He would make his own mark at Tynecastle to enter the pantheon of great Hearts forwards. He was top scorer for eight successive seasons on his way to hitting 143 competitive goals for the club in 369 games. Despite a sixth place finish in 1974, Ford managed to hit 29 goals that season earning his place in the Scotland World Cup squad, rubbing shoulders with Peter Lormier, Joe Jordan, Kenny Dalglish and Denis Law in Germany.

Ford was the team’s talisman, the reliable figure who would get the side out of sticky situations as they familiarised themselves with mediocrity. In the eight seasons he finished top scorer, Hearts’ highest finish was fourth. Supporters used to chant ‘Donald Ford give us a goal’ and so many times he answered that call.

John Colquhoun

You could argue about John Colquhoun’s position for Hearts. Was he a winger or was he more of a forward? No matter the answer, one thing all fans can agree on is his tendency to produce electrifying displays, terrorising opposition defenders across two spells at Tynecastle.

Yet, his view on his ability? “I was a decent player, not a great player.” That line from an interview two years ago would make the Hearts faithful scoff. It should really read: ‘A great player, not a decent player’. A player who thrilled and inspired the crowd with his speed and directness. He was an old-fashioned sort, the way he would get the ball and have only one thing in his mind, go forward and torment those in front. It led to him getting a few dull yins. It never seemed to bother him. He’d get up and go again. And again and again. A defender’s worst nightmare.

Colquhoun was inspirational in the club’s second place finishes in 1986 then 1988, scoring 15 times in the latter campaign. He could easily have been remembered for that agonising miss in Munich’s Olympiastadion in the second-leg of a Uefa Cup tie with Bayern Munich, but such were his performances across ten years he is simply remembered for being a great player.

Drew Busby

‘He plays at Tynecastle, just over the Forth’. Drew Busby is still immortalised in song to this day. Few epitomised an era of football more than the formidable striker. An iconic picture sums up the ‘Buzzbomb’, as he is known affectionately by Hearts fans. He's standing, sleeves rolled up, relatively serene despite blood pouring down his head and onto his maroon shirt.

The term ‘taking no prisoners’ was made for Busby. That was his approach to defenders and goalkeepers. He saw them as mere obstructions between him and the goal and it was a case of either vacating the space or preparing to be bodied. The commitment shown by Busby endeared him to a Hearts support which had to witness much underachievement during the 70s, including two relegation campaigns. He was the player fans hung to. Excellent in the air, full of power and precision, while on the deck he wanted nothing more than to leather the ball hard and often at the opposition goal.

Busby was the man who put a smile on the face of fans during a traumatic decade. He displayed sheer commitment to the shirt, no matter the league, no matter the occasion, whether it was netting in the famous 5-1 win over Lokomotiv Leipzig at Tynecastle, a double against Celtic or a hat-trick in a 7-0 win at Arbroath which netted him a crate of whiskey. He was a man to be feared and loved, leaving every bit of himself on the pitch. He once said: “It’s always Hearts first. They’re the club who’ve really seeped into me.”

Stephane Adam

“Amoruso let’s it run...” The rest as they say is history.

Yes, Stephane Adam may not have hit the heights many hoped or expected of a player with his quality. And, yes, his time at Hearts was beset with injuries. But in that 1997-1998 season, culminating in THAT goal, he was bordering on unplayable. He may well have been outscored by both Jim Hamilton and Neil McCann that season but his game was more than about goals. Pace, power, intelligence, movement. He was a handful. It was the runs he made, searching areas, making defenders question their next move, creating space for team-mates.

There were big moments in front of goal and in games, dazzling against Dunfermline in a 7-1 win or hitting a hat-trick against Kilmarnock, but it always comes back to that day in 1998. THAT goal. Chesting the ball away from Lorenzo Amoruso and then snapping a shot quickly past Andy Goram who struggled to react before bounding over a jubilant Hearts support. One of the club’s biggest goals. Ever.

The 5 best Hearts strikers of the last 50 years