Midfielder Peter Haring revealed he sang along with joyous Hearts fans in the closing stages of the 3-0 William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final win over Inverness at Hampden Park on Saturday.
The Jambos supporters who made up the vast majority of the 21,011 crowd were unhappy to see their team go into the interval level with the Championship outfit, which came as no surprise to the Austrian midfielder given the defeat to Hibernian in last week’s Edinburgh derby amid some indifferent recent results.
However, the Gorgie fans began to enjoy themselves after burly striker Uche Ikpeazu opened the scoring from close range four minutes into the second half.
Defender John Souttar added a second in the 66th minute with a volley from four yards following a corner and substitute Sean Clare slotted in a penalty in the 74th minute after Inverness keeper Mark Ridgers had fouled Ikpeazu to kill off the Championship side.
Haring, 25, who signed from Austrian side SV Ried last summer, said: “It was an amazing feeling to win.
“I didn’t expect the crowd to be that good, to be honest, but the Hearts supporters were amazing.
“I think there was a point in the second half when they were singing the Hearts anthem and I was just running around and singing it as well.
“I can’t wait to play in a cup final, an even bigger game.
“Everyone was expecting us to win and there was a lot of pressure, especially after last week. We were in control and for me, scoring goals was just a question of time.
“I know it didn’t look well all the time in the first half but I felt confident. I knew that we were going to score. To stay calm and focused was the most important thing.”
Clare was happy to seal the Tynecastle side’s place in the May 25 final from the spot just three minutes after replacing Jake Mulraney.
He said: “Before I came on Austin (McPhee, Hearts assistant manager) said I would be taking the penalties and when one came I was happy to take it and happy to put it away. I think I had two touches before it.
“I am quite confident with penalties at the moment. I scored three out of three and I knew it was a big one even though it was 2-0. It did change the game for us and we were completely in control after that.
“The main thing was we progressed to the final. It was a great win and I feel we deserved it.
“In the first half we controlled the game without creating too much and in the second half, we showed what we were able to do. The boys worked hard and we all played our part.”
