Wouter Vrancken was thrilled to see in-form Hearts demonstrate their strength in depth to secure a return to Hampden with a “mature” 3-0 win away to William Hill Championship leaders Stenhousemuir in Friday’s Premier Sports Cup quarter-final.
The Jambos boss made six changes to his starting XI – including rotating his whole front four – and was rewarded with an assured display and a sixth consecutive domestic victory.
New American forward JJ Williams marked his first start for Hearts with a clinical 35th-minute opener before the jet-heeled Rogers Mato, in only his second start, notched just before the break.
Forgotten man Yan Dhanda came on in the second half for only his second appearance in more than a year and volleyed home the third in the 74th minute as the rampant Jambos made it nine in a row unbeaten in all competitions.
“It was really mature,” said Vrancken. “We couldn’t take it easy because you saw also they won here against Motherwell in the last round, so we knew that it could be a difficult game and it was depending on us if we made it easier or not.
“We did the little things that we wanted to see, we were there, focused. Also in the duels, loose balls and on the ball we had quality, but we didn’t want to force it.
“With some players who want to have minutes and get their chance now, these players played how the team wanted them to play and were not forcing it themselves. I was happy to see that we can play a game like that.
“I’m just happy to see that it’s not about 11 players, that we can count on the whole squad because with all those games coming; you have domestic games, you have the European games, now you have the semi-final here, so there’s a lot of games, but that’s what we play for.”
Hearts became the first team to book their place in the semi-finals, ensuring Vrancken will get his first trip to Hampden since being appointed by the Jambos in June.
“It’s really exciting, that was the goal of this game,” said the Belgian. “I was happy to see that the players were focused on this game and not already thinking on the Hampden game.
“It’s always good to play semi-finals and finals, and showing your quality there so I’m happy to get there.”
Stenny boss Marvin Bartley said: “We turned up against a really, really good team and they punished us when we made mistakes.
“Mato on the left-hand side for them was fantastic. He is a top player with lots of pace.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my players, in terms of we’ve been 10 games unbeaten and we’re disappointed in there that we’ve lost to Hearts, who were seconds away from winning the title last season, so that shows how far Stenhousemuir has come.”
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