MORTON skipper Grant Gillespie is trying to keep his cool ahead of tonight’s Scottish Cup quarter-final against Hearts - but revealed he’s daring to dream that the romance of the cup can spark Cappielow’s latest midweek love affair.

The classy playmaker admitted that as soon as Scotland’s oldest competition comes round - the inner-child comes out of him as he begins to dream what could be and he’s relishing the chance to go up against one of the best side’s in the country.

After beating Motherwell at home last month, he’s glad that tonight’s game is being played out on home soil, the playmaker admits that there’s one glaring fact that leaves a telling impact of the Jambo’s quality.

He told the Tele: “It’s a massive game for the club, it’s exciting and it’s the kind of game you grow up wanting to be a part of when you first make your way as a footballer.

“Hearts are one of the biggest clubs in Scottish Football, so to get them at home in front of our fans is all we could’ve hoped for. It’s one we’re looking forward too.

“We’ve had the experience of going to Parkhead and Ibrox in recent seasons, we’ve had Motherwell at home too which was another good tie for the club to get.

“I hope that we can use those experiences to our advantage, so that we can go and acquit ourselves like we have done in those ties previously to then go and show what we’re all about.

“When the Scottish Cup starts, you always dare to dream, you always want to go and get the glamour ties and get as far as you can.

“We’re under no illusions as to how tough this game is going to be, they’re coming into the game off the back of a 2-0 home win over Celtic, so if anyone wasn’t aware of how tough it was going to be then they are now.

“It’s a one off game, and if we can play to our full potential then with the romance of the cup anything can happen. So we need to go out there, try to play with no fear and just enjoy the occasion.

“With Shankland up front they’re a threat at any point in the game, but it’s not just him. They’ve got quality all over the park, Vargas, Tagawa, Forrest.

“They’re all players that can hurt you at any moment. Cammy Devlin might not have played against Messi directly, but he’s been a hell of a lot closer to him than I’ll ever be and he’s got a shirt to prove it.

“They’ve got a squad full of quality internationals, you’ve got to try and keep concentrated for as long as possible because they could hurt you at any point.

“But this is the stage we’re at in the cup, you’ve got to beat the best teams if you want a chance of progressing and being in with a shout of winning some silverware.”

Despite not playing in the last 16 victory over Motherwell, Gillespie believes the 5,000 inside Cappielow was one of the best atmosphere’s he’s ever played in.

Considering he’s played in front of 50,000 at Ibrox this season, that’s quite the feat and he’s adamant that Ton will need their backing more than ever later today.

He continued: “Naturally you want to play in those kind of atmosphere’s. We know Cappielow won’t hold 50,000, but if we can get as many people in as possible it’ll certainly feel like there’s that amount in there.

“Against Motherwell, we knew we had to dig in a bit towards the end and the fans were a huge part of that that night, thankfully we managed to get the victory.

“From minute one, they were on our side and we’re singing our names with all they had. I’ve no doubts that come 7.45 tonight, they’ll come out in their numbers again and give us that same backing.

“It’ll be needed, we’re not about to sit and say that we’re going to dominate Hearts, we won’t. So we’ll need them as the twelfth man and hopefully that’ll spur us on to what would be a famous victory.”