Gary Mackay: Hearts Scottish Cup win would be our perfect response to powers that be

Lifting trophy is a much better response than withdrawing

I’ve heard a fair number of people suggesting Hearts withdraw from the Scottish Cup and tell the SFA to shove it after how they have been treated over the summer – and even more so after the ridiculous order to stop training.

I have to say I totally disagree with that chain of thought. I want Hearts to stay in the cup, and in fact I want them to win that particular trophy now more than ever.

The best thing Hearts can do here is regroup, use the sense of injustice as a motivation, get through a difficult semi-final against Hibs and then win the final.

I’ve never been like this about cups but I would take defeats against Inverness, Cowdenbeath, Raith and East Fife in the Betfred Cup if it meant we won the Scottish Cup. It would completely ram it up the powers that be.

The last thing I want to see is Hearts pulling out, and in all honesty I couldn’t envisage that happening anyway. Not with a semi-final against Hibs on the horizon.

I hope Robbie Neilson, the players and staff develop a real siege mentality and go all the way to lift the trophy. I know Robbie is capable of harnessing that kind of mindset within the team.

It would be a phenomenal achievement for any team playing in the Championship to win the Scottish Cup, but it’s one step at a time given how hard it will be to beat Hibs in the semi-final.

Because of the way we’ve been treated, being in the final and winning would really ram it down the throats of some of the people who have made these outrageous decisions in the last few months. It would be them getting their comeuppance.

From the voting shambles, to relegating clubs and then stopping them from training, it has been a disastrous period for the governing bodies and really shows up the incompetence at that level.

For Hearts, there is no option now but to get back to football as soon as possible. And the biggest football date on the calendar as that semi against our city rivals on October 31.

You don’t need any extra motivation in an Edinburgh derby, but this is also a national cup semi-final. Our training has been stopped and we will only have had a few weeks of competitive games before the semi-final. Everybody knows how angry we all are.

Let’s take that out on everybody else on the pitch.

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