Grant says Hearts are ready for ‘horrible’ cup tie at Cappielow
Hearts midfielder Jorge Grant is braced for a “horrible” encounter in Greenock and dismissed suggestions he will be in for a culture shock at Cappielow.
Morton manager Dougie Imrie claimed the Hearts players would not enjoy the small changing rooms and other infrastructure at his club’s ground tonight given they are used to “luxury”.
But Grant believes he knows what to expect given his experience of playing for the likes of Nottscounty,mansfield,luton and Lincoln in England’s bottom two divisions.
The 29-year-old said ahead of thisevening’sscottishgasscottish Cup quarter-final: “I have played in the lower leagues in Englandandit’salllikethatanyway. It’s probably not going to be a culture shock to me but it might be to some others.
“But we wouldn’t expect anything less, you would expect it to be a horrible game and they are going to try and get on top of us and make it difficult for us. That’s what a cup tie is about. We just have to deal with it.
“We have watched loads of them in the last few days. It’s important that we do our homework on them and make sure we are ready for what comes.
“We know what they can bring but it’s more about us and what we do – how we deal with what they have but also bring our own game .”
Hearts have already negotiated two away fixtures against Spartans and Airdrie in the competition. And Grant is confident they can deal with the pressure and expectations of being firm favourites. He said: “We can take confidence from that. in the past rounds we have gone away to places and won the games and we will try and do that again.
“Pressure comes from playing with this club. there is pressure to get third in the league, get closer to the Old Firm, win trophies. It’s important that pressure doesn’t affect us and we we deal with it. if eel this season we have dealt with it really well and hopefully that continues.” Morton defender Darragh O’connor has experienced both the discomfort and advantages of playing at Cappielow and believes the home crowd will be a key factor against Hearts.
The cinch Championship club are hoping for an attendance of about 8,000 in Greenock.
Morton have lost to inverness and Dundee United on their own turf in their last two fixtures but their home form has been impressive in recent seasons. Imrie’s side have racked up 26 home wins since the start of last season, including a fifthround win over Motherwell in this competition.
O’connor felt the hostility of playing for an away team at Cappielow while on loan from Motherwell at Queen of the South and the Irishman is glad to have the Ton fans on his side.
“They are going to be the 12th man,” the 24-year-old said. “When we played Motherwell here, I think there were two or three thousand fans already here when we came out for the warm-up.
“It’s an old-style stadium and you can feel the presence of the fans when you are playing.
“I visited here when I was playing for Queen of the South and it was very uncomfortable playing here. So hopefully the fans can get right behind us and make it uncomfortable for Hearts.”