Craig Beattie: Fired Hearts into the William Hill Scottish Cup final with late penalty
Hearts hero Craig Beattie hailed a 'great moment' after his last-minute penalty saw Paulo Sergio's side beat Celtic 2-1 and earn a place in the final of the Scottish Cup.
Substitute Beattie stepped up and fired past Fraser Forster at Hampden Park to send his former club out of the competition and set up the first all-Edinburgh final since 1896 after Hibernian beat Aberdeen 2-1 in the other semi-final on Saturday.
Earlier, Rudi Skacel had scored the opening goal for Hearts but Celtic's Gary Hooper had headed the equaliser with three minutes remaining.
Beattie told Sky Sports 1: "It was fantastic, a great moment for myself and we deserved it. We came with a game-plan to frustrate Celtic and I think we did that.
"It was fantastic, a great moment for myself and we deserved it. We came with a game-plan to frustrate Celtic and I think we did that."
Craig BeattieQuotes of the week
"To come back after they scored to equalise, I'm delighted.
"I was thinking 'please dive out of the way quick enough' when I stepped up to take it. I don't normally take penalties but I've practised a couple during the week."
Carrying knocks
Beattie explained why he had only started the game from the bench.
"I've been carrying a couple of knocks and missed a few days of training," he added.
"I was touch and go to be honest, but I knew if I could get through Friday and Saturday in the week then I'd recover."
The striker is now looking forward to a sell-out crowd in next month's sho wdown.
"The place will be rocking," he said. "It will be sold out and it's going to be a great day to compete for the Scottish Cup.
"It's going to be a fantastic day. Favourites go out of the window."
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