Jorge Grant reveals how Hearts drilled the Scottish Cup's importance into him

The midfielder is fully aware of what Monday's tie at Morton means to his club

One of Jorge Grant's first conversations at Hearts surrounded the significance of the Scottish Cup and what success in the tournament means at Tynecastle Park. Three times in the last three decades the famous old trophy has wound its way from Hampden to Gorgie following momentous and euphoric finals. Grant fully understands the magnitude.

Monday's quarter-final away to Morton will be the third successive time Hearts have encountered lower-league opponents in this season's Scottish Cup. After Spartans and Airdrie, no-one takes the trip to Greenock lightly. Grant recalled joining Hearts from Peterborough United in summer 2022 and how quickly the cup's value was drilled into his head.

"When I was coming here, [former manager] Robbie Neilson and Joe [Savage, sporting director] stressed to me what’s expected here and that Hearts have been in a lot of cup finals before," said the midfielder. "It’s important that all the new players who come in understand that we have to try to win trophies. The difference between being here and playing in the lower leagues in England is that there’s not much opportunity to win trophies down there.

"When you come here, you know the stature of the club and the chances to do that will be there. It’s always something you want to do. It can be career-defining for us because there are not too many chances elsewhere. It’s something I want to do and look back on in my career. I’ve seen the odd thing on Twitter about Hearts teams of the past winning things so you want that for yourself."

The great Hearts teams through history were defined by trophy success. The 1998, 2006 and 2012 squads are all considered living legends in Gorgie. "You go down in history at the club if you win a trophy," acknowledged Grant. "Everyone remembers the moments when a club wins something, so hopefully we can give ourselves that opportunity this year. Obviously, the lads who have been here before and been on cup runs know what’s required."

Grant's experiences in English cup competitions did not take him to the latter rounds. "At Notts County, we started out in the first round one season and got to the fifth round. We did well against Swansea, who were in the Premier League at the time, drawing with them at home but then got beat 8-1 in the replay. I’ve also played against Everton and Liverpool in the cups, but never got near a final."

Morton offer a considerable challenge after beating Hearts' Premiership counterparts Motherwell in the last round at Cappielow. "It's important we know what it’s going to be like there, so we have watched them a lot," explained Grant. "We will have to start the game in the right manner and understand their threats, so we have to bring our game to it. 

"It’s a bit of a banana skin, an away tie at a tough place to go and everyone expects us to win so we have to deal with the pressure. I feel we have done that well this season so hopefully we can go there and do the business. We’re in decent form, we’re doing well at the moment, but we can’t be complacent. We know what our qualities are and what we can bring to this game."

As ever, top goalscorer Lawrence Shankland will be an important figure. He claimed his 28th goal of the season in all competitions in last weekend's 2-0 victory over Celtic. Only after he let Grant score the opening goal from the penalty spot despite some verbals from the Celtic goalkeeper, Joe Hart.

"I heard what Joe was saying and he was laughing at me too, asking why I was taking the penalty and trying to put me off. He was trying to get in our heads," said Grant. "I’d watched him before the game so knew if the opportunity came along what I would do. When I scored I just wanted to celebrate the goal [rather than say anything in retaliation]. Scoring goals is something I have always liked doing so celebrating that was good enough for me.

"Obviously people have been in and out of the team so I feel we have that togetherness. Having a striker in the form Lawrence is always helps. On the back of last season, he probably had the pressure on him to do it again and be the big man of the team. He’s done that and it’s important for us that we keep trying to get him the opportunities to score games.

"What we’ve done really well this season is take each game as it comes and not look to much into things. We have done well in those games against Celtic when they have come around, so of course results like last weekend give you confidence. When we get to that point, hopefully we can do the business."