Hearts were in dreamland for 11 minutes but daunting Celtic Park task is not beyond them

The possibility is a daunting if tantalising one, the ultimate one in the eye for one of two clubs forming the established order in Scotland. Avoid defeat against Celtic on Saturday and Derek McInnes’ side will register an achievement for the ages in one of the most partisan places in world football. A late, late penalty winner for Celtic at Fir Park was undeniably dismaying for the hosts, although they ought to have expected such an eventuality. Hearts’ margin for error was suddenly drastically reduced. They need a result in the east end of Glasgow.

There’s nothing in their make-up that suggests this is beyond them. One imagines their 800 or so fans will have as big a part to play as the players. That was certainly true here as the supporters relayed the message to their heroes after the final whistle that they believe in them. They will be waiting for them if and when they return home with the trophy on Saturday evening.

They won this final-before-the final as comfortably as any supporter had dared hope, overcoming some understandable early edginess to post a 3-0 win over Falkirk, with auxiliary defender Frankie Kent, the returning Cammy Devlin and Blair Spittal – a late season success story - the scorers.

For eleven or so delicious first-half minutes, Hearts not only saw the lights of home, they felt the warmth emanating from the open front door. How close it seemed, how close. They were winning and Celtic were losing, the title-winning combination so many were willing. A late equaliser for Motherwell revived hopes that Gorgie might see the party to end all parties on a midweek night but business owners who require a workforce will be grateful the Fir Park side could not force a late winner. Instead, Celtic did.

McInnes stressed he wasn’t interested in what was going on elsewhere but he knew he could not avoid knowing. The huge cheer that erupted after 16 minutes, greeting a goal 35 miles or so away, almost took the stand roofs off Tynecastle. The 5g bandwidth was proving up to the job of delivering vital information to the Gorgie area even if Hearts were struggling to connect with each other in those early stages. Nervy is an understatement.

Celtic being one down at Fir Park was all very well. Hearts still had to take care of their own business. It had been a struggle at first, but Kent’s header from an Alexandros Kyziridis corner helped soothe fevered brows after 29 minutes. The defender would not even have been playing if Craig Halkett had not been stretchered off against Motherwell in the previous game. The universe has a strange way of working. Maybe everything really is going to turn out alright.

The jerseys of both Halkett and Marc Leonard, who also suffered an Achilles injury in the same game, were held up by Kyziridis and Cammy Devlin near the home dugout as the players celebrated. Mawkish but forgivable in the circumstances.

A surfeit of emotion was not necessarily going to be helpful but Hearts rode the wave and scored again. What a moment for Devlin, who has been so unlucky with injury this season. The little Australian took advantage of a loose ball in the box after Lawrence Shankland had tried to feed Claudio Braga to force a deflected shot home after 32 minutes.

The pandemonium had only just died down after another huge cheer erupted around the ground, following what proved erroneous news of another home goal in Motherwell.

Devlin’s strike at least eased fears that Falkirk might mount a comeback and gave Hearts a base from which to start thinking about vastly improving their goal difference in the event that it might matter. It doesn’t now. Spittal scored a third, steering home from the edge of the box with four minutes left with Tynecastle already in ferment following news of a Motherwell equaliser.

The night was proving more dramatic than anybody had deemed possible. The early part of the game seemed a long way away. Alexander Schwolow was called upon to palm a couple of crosses away. Calvin Miller then broke free on the left and found the far corner after everybody else, including the Falkirk player, had seemed to hesitate, waiting for an offside flag. Miller then remembered his job was putting the ball in the net and letting VAR take care of the details. Closer than anyone thought, it turned out. Fine margins all the way. Next stop, Celtic Park.