MORTON goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald has faced a few stern tests in his career - none more so than being stared down by Harry Kane with only twelve yards between them.

Coming out on top of that particular battle has left him with no choice but to back himself should he find himself in a similar predicament against Lawrence Shankland in the Scottish Cup quarter final against Hearts.

Strikers and goalkeepers are football’s version of Tom and Jerry, two foes who secretly have a secret admiration for the skill sets that both have at their disposal and he reckons the 27-goal striker is criminally underrated, even now.

He told the Tele: “I’m not one to mention the Harry Kane penalty save actually, I’m not huge on talking about things like that.

“It’s just a striker against a goalkeeper at the end of the day and penalties are a bit of a lottery. I think penalty takers, for me, should score more often than not.

“As a goalkeeper you always have a chance, but it’s usually as close as you can get to matching that feeling of scoring a goal as a goalie.

"It’s always been a free hit for a striker, so to have that opportunity to make a contribution like that is always nice.

“So if I was staring down at Lawrence Shankland from 12-yards away, I’m not so sure how that’d go, but you’ve got to back yourself.

“At the end of the day he’s scored 27 goals this season which is an absolutely phenomenal return for anyone in Scotland outside the old firm.

“I think he’s flown under the radar a little bit in terms of the plaudits he’s receiving about the quality of the goals that he’s been scoring.

“Some of the goals I’ve seen have been unbelievable and he’s been a massive part of Hearts’ form this season.”

The 37-year-old has been to Hampden on numerous occasions, with Hearts where he in fact won the Scottish Cup and with Falkirk and Queen of the South.

Whilst he battles to be fit in time for this quarter-final he believes that Morton have a chance against anyone in the country at home - pointing to last month’s memorable win over Motherwell as a prime example.

“I’m really looking forward to the game.” He added. “There’s no getting away from it that Hearts are an ex-team of mine, I spent seven years there.

“They’re a team that’s going well at the minute, having just beaten Celtic. But at Cappielow you’d take anyone and Hearts are no different.

“When you were looking at the draw, you were hoping for a home tie which we’ve fortunately got, because you’d have a chance outside Celtic and Rangers.

“It’ll be tough though, Hearts are going really really well just now. Although, we’ve been going really well recently so I’m expecting a really good game.

“We saw it on the Friday night against Motherwell, Cappielow is not an easy place to come too. On the day of the game we’ll give our all and you never know, we could get our day at Hampden.”

Another of the Hearts squad that the veteran has an admiration for is long-time friend and former colleague Craig Gordon, who’s battled back from that horrific leg break suffered up at Tannadice this time last year.

As he battles to get back into the thoughts of Steve Clarke ahead of Euro 2024 - the Ton keeper admits nobody will be cheering louder than he will be should Gordon be in the 26-man squad.

He continued: “I hope I’m flicking on Sky Sports in a few months time and seeing Craig’s name on the list, if I do I’ll be cheering at the telly.

“When you saw the images of the incident, it was horrific to see not only as a player, but as a friend too because it was such a nasty thing to happen.

“It would be a huge achievement for him, because it was a really bad break and it’s taken 10-11 months for him to get back to this point of playing again.

“Although when you get to 40-years-old there does become a point where you’ll no doubt sit and think if it’s really worth it, but he’s determined to try and get on that plane for Scotland to go to Germany.”