Neil Critchley praises Hearts bounce back ability as Jambos put derby day misery behind them to book Hampden place

The Jambos are the first team into the hat for the semi finals of the ScottisH Cup after beating Dundee 3-1

Neil Critchley hailed his Hearts squad’s for roaring back from derby woe to book their place at Hampden.

The Jambos dumped Dundee 3-1 to blast into the Scottish Cup semi-finals to raise the Tynecastle roof less than a week on from defeat to Hibs at Easter Road. Critchley said: “I thought it was a really good game, a good cup tie. At 1-1 the game's in the balance, but that was the perfect response from the group from last week. We had to show, again, a lot of character tonight and belief in what we were doing. This group continues to do that and we're making steps forward. We're in the next round and we can sit back and relax and watch all the others have a stressful weekend.”

Jambs ace Sander Kartum notched a sensational double to open his Hearts goal account following his January switch from Brann. Critchley said: “That's what we saw in him when we recruited him. He's obviously taken a little bit of time to get up to speed, which is understandable. We've seen his quality. that's been evident in training and he's been getting fitter and stronger all the time.

“He's come on from the St Mirren game where he had his first start. I think we see that tonight. He looks in better rhythm and they were two fantastic goals. I'm not sure how the second one went in really. I was expecting him to shoot off his right foot, but when the lefties are normally reluctant to use their right foot!”

Critchley will sit back and watch the rest of the quarter-finalist fight it out for the semis. And he insisted Heart will have no fear regardless.

The Gorgie gaffer said: “Who would I want? I would say anyone. It’s weeks away, we've got loads of games to go yet. So who knows what form we're going to be in? or the form of the opponent.

“Our focus is straight on to Ross County next week. The players will have a weekend off, have a rest and then we come back in on Monday and we're ready to go. We want to be in the semi-final and we want to finish in the top six and keep progressing.”

Critchley lost Jamie McCart before the game but Lewis Neilson stepped up to play a major role alongside Michael Steinwender. He said: “He was in the team to play, but just didn't feel right. When he's completed the training, we've done all our prep.

"Lewis came in and again, Lewis has been training really well. I thought him and Michael were quite a sound, solid partnership.”

Dundee boss Tony Docherty was left distraught as he was convinced his side had Hearts on the ropes when they made it 1-1 early in the second half. The focus is now on staying in the Premiership and he said: “I challenged them at half-time and I thought they came out in the second half and they showed bravery and I thought we got them exactly where we wanted them.

“We got the goal back with real impetus. I think the third goal almost killed it as a contest but I think even at 2-1 I was expecting us to score the next goal. I genuinely never saw it going any other way than us winning the night.

“So I'm hugely disappointed because I want to be involved, I want to be manager of a club that gets to semi-finals and finals and that was close tonight, that was really close but it just makes me more hungry to make sure I achieve that.

“That will serve us well for the nine cup finals that we've got coming up now. But I can't get away from the fact that I'm hugely disappointed."