Sergio - Win for supporters

Sergio - Win for supporters

Paulo Sergio: Looking forward to a cup final showdown with Edinburgh rivals Hibernian

Paulo Sergio is delighted to be in a position to be able to repay Hearts' loyal supporters with a Scottish Cup final appearance

A dramatic 2-1 semi-final victory over Celtic on Sunday means the Jambos will be heading back to Hampden Park on 19th May for a derby date with Hibernian.

An all-Edinburgh encounter promises to be some occasion and Sergio has spoken of his pride at guiding Hearts to within touching distance of major silverware.

"I feel very happy," he told Sky Sports.

"We got through and we are going to play in a final. It's for our supporters and I am very happy because of that. I work to s ee them happy, we worked very hard for that and we are very happy to have brought this joy to all of our supporters."

Hearts prevailed over Celtic courtesy of a controversial penalty from Craig Beattie, with the Hoops left bemused by the decision to pull Joe Ledley up for handball.

On that incident, Sergio said: "There were lots of bodies there and I didn't see. I didn't have a clear view at that moment."

Risk

Sergio did, however, see enough of the game to convince him that changes were required at half-time.

With Hearts having struggled to gain a foothold in the game during the opening 45 minutes, he took the decision to replace Scott Robinson with Beattie and saw that call pay off in spectacular fashion.

"I knew we were going to have to defend, we knew that and we prepared a strategy," added the Portuguese tactician.

"Even with this strategy, I thought we would have more of the ball in the first half. We didn't and I wasn't happy with that. I didn't want to wait until we lost a goal to change things, so I took a risk at half-time.

"I spoke to Scott Robinson and told him that he did a great job in the first half but that I have to change things because we weren't threating the Celtic defence. It worked very well for us."