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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lochlin Highet

Scottish Cup: Hearts boss Robbie Neilson wary of cup upset as he vows to go full strength against Auchinleck

Robbie Neilson insists he won’t be taking Auchinleck Talbot lightly this weekend.

Hearts head to Ayrshire on Saturday to face the West of Scotland Premier Division side in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup live on the BBC.

And the Jambos gaffer is aiming to avoid another shock cup exit a year after losing to Highland League side Brora Rangers.

When asked if he will be resting any players he simply said: “No.”

He told BBC Sportsound: “First of all we need to be respectful of Auchinleck, they are a good team, these are always tough games and we have to make sure we get into the next round.

“It’ll be a tough game, I was down there watching them last week. It’s a tough venue to go to, they are a well-organised team.

“We have to go there and make sure we are professional and hopefully get ourselves into the next round.”

Hearts subbed off Craig Halkett during their 2-0 cinch Premiership win against St Johnstone on Tuesday, and they rested star striker Liam Boyce with the aim of bringing him back into the line-up on Saturday.

Neilson said: “We took him [Halkett] off as a precaution, Craig has been carrying that for a few weeks now.

“We felt we had to take him off and get him ready for Saturday, I am pretty sure he will be fine.”

He added: “We didn’t need Liam against St Johnstone thankfully, he has been training and he will continue this week.

“The plan all along was to get him ready for Saturday.”

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