Critchley believes Hearts have enough 'character' to reach Scottish Cup final

Hearts boss Neil Critchley believes his side have enough “character” to beat Aberdeen at Hampden to reach the Scottish Cup final.

The Tynecastle club fell at the final hurdle in their quest to secure a spot in the top half of the Premiership when they were held to a goalless draw at Fir Park and leapfrogged by St Mirren as a result.

They now take on the Dons at the national stadium on Saturday as they bid to salvage their campaign by reaching the showpiece game, where they will play Celtic or St Johnstone, in May.

Hearts have been criticised in some quarters for failing to win any of the big games against the Glasgow sides, Aberdeen or city rivals Hibernian.

Asked if he felt they had the character to pull off the elusive statement win over Jimmy Thelin’s men this weekend, the manager said: “I believe they do. We’ve shown character in lots of games this season where we’ve been in sticky moments, either coming from behind or teams equalising against us, and we have to go again.

“I don’t worry about the group, I don’t worry about their honesty or their commitment. The biggest thing that has let us down in a lot of the games this season is not taking our chances.

“That’s got nothing to do with character. That comes down to our quality and composure, our decision-making in front of the goal.”

Asked for his reaction to the narrative developing that he is unable to deliver a “statement win” when it really matters, Critchley insisted such judgements should not be formed so hastily.

He said: “Does it bother me? No, not really.

“Is it fair? Well, you could say that because there’s evidence of that. But I say it’s a small sample size, I’ve only been here six months.

“If we’re still talking like this after another lengthier period of time… The team’s evolving, we have to keep moving forward, we have to keep showing progression.

“I believe we have, and we’re moving in the right direction. If we keep doing that, then I firmly believe that the results in some of those games that you’re probably alluding to will be different.

“We had two points after eight games,” he said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve accumulated a lot of points. You could say, in points per game, we’d be comfortably in the top six if I were here all season. But I wasn’t, and the reason I am is because of what happened (at the start of the season).

“I can only deal with the here and now and the group that’s in front of me, and I think we’ve shown progress. The next step is for us to go and take a big step forward on Saturday and progress to the final.”