Emotional Hearts star explains 'Farmor' shinpad celebration after tough week for 29y/o

Before the match, he wrote out the word ‘Farmor’ and taped it on to his shin pad. The plan was to find the net and celebrate by taking it out of his sock and pointing to the sky. Somebody very special was looking down on Kartum.

This has not been an easy week for the softly-spoken 29-year-old, who at the end of January upped sticks from his homeland Norway to join Hearts from Brann Bergen. A month later, he was hit with the sad news that his grandmother Ragnhild - ‘Farmor’ in Norwegian - had passed away. They were close.

The funeral took place back home on Friday, clashing with Hearts’ last-eight tie against Dundee. Kartum could not attend, with head coach Neil Critchley handing him only his second start in maroon. Two sumptuous left-footed goals later, the faith was repaid as the Jambos downed Dundee 3-1 to secure their spot at Hampden.

“It was important to me to get a good start, and to get two goals was very special,” said Kartum. “It [the celebration] was to honour my grandmother who died last week, and she had a funeral today, so I missed it, so just to honour her.”

Kartum had to pause to compose himself as the emotion started to overwhelm him. “Yeah, I couldn't go,” he continued, “so I had to play the game. It was a tough few weeks. She died last week, so it was good to get two goals and honour her.

“It's difficult to talk about, but yeah, she's a special person. I try to honour her when I get the goal.”

Kartum has taken a month or so to adapt to life in Scotland but Hearts fans are starting to see why Critchley was so keen to bring him across the North Sea. He arrived with a reputation of a cultured left foot and an eye for goal and he displayed that with his goals, both outside of the penalty box.

“It gets better and better each week,” Kartum said of his game. “Last week, when I got my first start at St Mirren, it was tough. St Mirren is a tough team to play against, and today it worked out better for me to play good football. More possession and get on the ball more, so it's getting better and better.

“I came for pre-season in Norway to settle down here, and now I've trained for two months, and physically I'm getting better. I think Scottish football suits me.”

Kartum is now eagerly anticipating another at Hampden. He has never reached this juncture of a cup competition before - and visited the national stadium in January for a heart scan as part of his medical.

“I’m looking forward to playing at Hampden,” added Kartum. “I've been there, just looked at the stadium once before I signed, and it's a special stadium. I'm looking forward to getting to the semi-final, and hopefully we get a good draw.”